Kern County suffers data breach compromising over 15000 employees’ personal information

• A data breach at the systems of third-party vendors might have impacted the health benefits program run by Kern County on behalf of its employees.
• This could have exposed the personal information of current and former Kern County employees, their dependents, and medical staff at Kern Medical Center.

What is the issue?

A potential security incident at a third-party vendor could have exposed the personal information of current and former Kern County employees, their dependents, and medical staff at Kern Medical Center.

A brief overview

A spokeswoman for Kern County, Megan Person said that a data breach at the systems of third-party vendors might have impacted the health benefits program run by the County on behalf of its employees.

• Person confirmed that the data breach did not occur on the county networks and systems.
• County officials have launched an investigation to determine if any data was compromised.
• She added that if a data breach is confirmed, then all affected employees will be provided with complimentary credit-monitoring services.

“The security of our plan participants and their information is our primary concern, and we remain vigilant in monitoring the situation. We want to assure our employees and our constituents this did NOT affect our county networks and systems. It’s a reminder that all of us should be cautious and take extra measures when it comes to our online security,” Person said, Techwire reported.