FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2018

Contact: Mary Michael Gleason
(844) 217-6736

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CLIENTS OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, DUVAL COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT

On June 28, 2018, a Department of Health, Duval County Health Department (DOH) employee was the victim of a malicious phishing email. DOH learned of the event on July 24, 2018, and immediately reset the employee’s login credentials to terminate any inappropriate account access. DOH promptly reported the event to the Inspector General and the Security Administration Team initiated an investigation to identify if any protected health information was possibly accessed. The investigation was completed on September 11, 2018, and revealed that only the employee’s Microsoft Outlook 365 was accessed. No other DOH systems or email accounts were involved. It is possible that DOH clients of Duval County Health Department may have had their names, dates of birth, diagnoses, and medical conditions accessed as a result of this incident. At this time, DOH believes it is possible that approximately 300 clients may have been impacted.

Currently, DOH has no reason to believe that client information has been misused. Nor was there any evidence of access to social security numbers, bank accounts, credit cards or other personal information or financial information. However, in an abundance of caution and to help individuals detect any misuse of this information, clients should review their credit history for any fraudulent or suspicious activities they have not authorized. A free report can be obtained at www.annualcreditreport.com. If you have had fraudulent activity, contact the Duval County Sheriff’s Office at 904.630.2100.

DOH takes this matter very seriously and has taken the following steps to prevent this from happening in the future:

• Immediately remediated the breach and began an ongoing review of potentially impacted information;
• Conducted a full review of DOH IT data to determine the circumstances of the breach;
• Initiated a new security awareness training and exercises to ensure proper security protocol and monthly testing of employees;

DOH is exploring additional security options to protect against further security breaches.

The security of patient information is of critical importance to the Department of Health. The Department is committed to safeguarding confidential patient information and to further safeguard the identity of our clients.

If you have any questions, you may contact Mary Michael Gleason at (844) 217-6736.

DOH is notifying all potentially affected individuals in accordance with state and federal law, including information on credit monitoring services. Pursuant to 45 CFR 164 and Section 501.171, Florida Statutes.