Utah health officials reach out to data breach victims

Health officials are touring the state, looking to provide one-on-one help to the nearly 800,000 Utahns swept up in a state data breach.

The Data Breach Security Tour, a series of workshops, kicks off July 26 at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City. The statewide tour will conclude Aug. 22 in St. George.

It's part of a push to protect Utahns whose personal information was exposed in April when hackers broke into a poorly protected Medicaid server. Hackers stole the personal information of low-income people on Medicaid, many of them children. Also compromised were the names, addresses — and in some cases, the Social Security numbers — of retirees on Medicare and uninsured and privately insured patients.

To date, only 55,000 victims have signed up for the year's worth of free credit monitoring and fraud insurance being offered by the Utah Department of Health.

"We want to make sure we've done everything we can to reach out to those who were affected," said Sheila Walsh-McDonald, governor-appointed data security ombudsman, in a statement. She and her staff will provide personalized advice at the workshops.

Each event lasts three hours starting at 4 p.m., except for the one in St. George, which runs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Anyone with questions about the hacking and efforts to remedy it are welcome, officials say. The events will be held in the following cities:

Salt Lake City • Thursday, July 26, Salt Lake County Government Center, South Atrium, 2001 S. State St.; also Monday, July 30, Palmer Court, 999 S. Main St.

Logan • Tuesday, July 31, Bear River Health Department, Environmental Health Building, 85 E. 1800 North

Ogden • Wednesday, Aug. 1, Marshall White Community Center, 222 28th St.

Clearfield • Thursday, Aug. 2, North Davis Senior Activity Center, 42 S. State St.

Provo • Wednesday, Aug. 8, Utah County Health Department, 151 S. University Ave., Room 2600

Price • Tuesday, Aug. 14, Castleview Hospital, 300 N. Hospital Drive

Richfield • Tuesday, Aug. 21, Central Utah Health Department, 70 Westview Drive

St. George • Wednesday, Aug. 22, Washington County Senior Center, 245 N. 200 West —

Protect yourself

O Visit the Utah Department of Health's virtual Data Breach Solution center at health.utah.gov/data­breach/ or call the 24-hour hotline at 1-855-238-3339.