31 August 2023

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Absolute Dental Services notifies patients of data security incident

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Absolute Dental Services (ADS), a dental laboratory, experienced a data security incident that may have impacted personal or protected health information belonging to individuals who received dental services from various dental practices that ADS supports. According to an Aug. 22 news release, ADS has sent notification of this incident to potentially impacted individuals and has provided resources to assist them.

On Feb. 21, 2023, Absolute Dental Services discovered suspicious activity associated with one of its email accounts. In response, ADS took immediate steps to secure the account and promptly launched an investigation.

In so doing, ADS engaged independent digital forensics and incident response experts to determine what happened and whether any information may have been accessed or acquired without authorization as a result. On March 8, 2023, ADS received confirmation that the one ADS email account at issue was accessed without authorization and then engaged a vendor to conduct a comprehensive review of the contents.

In June 2023, ADS learned that certain personal or protected health information was contained within the account and therefore may have been impacted. The health information would have varied for each patient but may have included date of birth, date of medical service, full face photo, physician or medical facility information, medical condition or treatment information, medical device identifier, medical diagnosis information, DNA profile, medical record number or referral.

ADS promptly notified relevant dental providers and worked diligently therewith to identify up-to-date address information associated with potentially impacted individuals necessary to provide notification. Notification was provided to potentially impacted individuals on Aug. 21, 2023. The notice included information about the incident and steps that potentially impacted individuals can take to help protect their information.

ADS has established a toll-free call center to answer questions about the incident and to address related concerns. Call center representatives are available Monday through Friday between 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time and can be reached at 1-800-939-4170.

The privacy and protection of personal and protected health information is a top priority for ADS, which deeply regrets any inconvenience or concern this incident may cause.