Last week, Service Corporation International notified 24,168 customers from its Cremation Society of Pennsylvania branch after their information was lost in the mail.
Pennlive reports that, “While officials do not believe any identities have actually been stolen, the organization’s corporate headquarters notified 24,168 people about the possible breach and is offering them free identity protection and credit monitoring services…”
According to a statement released by the Cremation Society of Pennsylvania, the data was lost in transit from the Cremation Society of Pennsylvania to SCI corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas. In early February, The Cremation Society of Pennsylvania shipped a package to headquarters containing a computer data storage device. While the package successfully arrived… it was missing the data drive. The data drive held the personal information – names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, and email addresses of 24K customers.
According to Pennlive, a letter sent to the at-risk customers explains that the package was likely damaged in transit or at a UPS facility and no theft or foul play is suspected in the incident.
A statment by the Cremation Society of Pennsylvania explains, “While we do not have any reason to believe the contents have been improperly accessed, acquired or misused, we have decided out of an abundance of caution to notify approximately 24,168 potentially impacted individuals in Pennsylvania and other states, and have offered them identity protection and credit monitoring services at no cost.”
According to the statement, the Cremation Society of Pennsylvania immediately filed a lost-article claim with UPS and launched an internal investigation. If the device is found, UPS policy states that it will be destroyed.
