| Ohio Department
of Administrative Services Ted Strickland, Governor Hugh Quill, Director |
News Release Office of Communications |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Ron Sylvester
June 17, 2007 Phone: 614-728-8698
Email: ron.sylvester@das.ohio.gov
How State of Ohio Employees May Protect Themselves From ID Theft
(Columbus) – Due to the recent incident involving the loss
of a state of Ohio data storage device, Gov. Ted Strickland directed the
Ohio Department of Administrative Services (DAS) beginning on Friday,
June 15 to take several steps to help protect state employees from identity theft.
State officials continue to stress that there is no reason to believe any data has actually been accessed on the device.
Actions that have been taken thus far:
- A special website for state employees was set up on Friday, June 15 at
http://ohio.gov/idprotect/ This site contains up-to-date information on the status of events, information on how to protect personal identity and banking information, dependent information, a list of frequently asked questions which has been updated daily, a listing of state call center information for live assistance, and information about how to register for the state’s free identity theft and prevention program. - A call center was established with
assistance from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency and the Office of Consumers Counsel
on the morning of Friday, June 15. Operators have up-to-date information for state
employees who wish to speak live to someone about the incident. The call center
operated throughout the weekend and fielded over 1,600 calls by Sunday morning.
State employees may reach the call center by dialing either 800-267-4474 or 877-742-5622.
The call center’s ongoing hours are:
Sunday, June 17 – 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Beginning Monday, June 18, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. These hours remain in effect until further notice. State employees may call during work hours.
- DAS contracted with Debix, a provider of personal identity theft and prevention services, on Friday, June 15.
The Debix service is now available to all state of Ohio employees and their dependents 18 years of age and older free of charge.
Information on the Debix program and a link to the state of Ohio’s Debix website may be found at http://ohio.gov/idprotect/.
- The state began providing information on how to protect the identities of dependents less than 18 years of age on Saturday, June 16. This information is:
TransUnion has set up a special email address for parents and guardians
to use: childidtheft@transunion.com TransUnion will give you a yes/no answer to the question of: Does a credit file exist in the following name and/or Social Security Number. If the response is yes, we strongly recommend you contact the Identity Theft Resource Center at:
Identity Theft Resource Center
PO Box 26833, San Diego CA 92196
Phone: 858-693-7935
Mon-Fri 9am-4:30pm Pacific Time
Email: itrc@idtheftcenter.org - A letter will be sent to the homes of all state employees on Monday, June 18, regarding this issue.
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