COLUMBUS, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Toyota Industries North America, Inc. (“TINA”), which is headquartered in Columbus, Ind. and provides administrative services to its affiliated North American entities, is notifying individuals of a data security incident. The incident could potentially impact the security of certain personal and protected health information regarding approximately 19,000 current/former employees and health plan participants of the TINA family of companies. While the company is not aware of any actual harm to individuals as a result of the situation, it is providing potentially affected individuals with information via First Class mail regarding steps taken, and what can be done to protect against potential harm.
What Happened
On August 30, 2018, the company discovered that on or around August 15, 2018, an unauthorized third party may have accessed the company email system and potentially gained entry to a small number of email accounts. After discovering the incident, the company took prompt action to contain the threat, including engaging information security experts to secure the email system and help ensure that the unauthorized third party no longer had access. The company also obtained legal assistance and began a review of the incident, which included contacting technology experts to determine what, if any, information may have been accessed. At this point, the company is not aware of any misuse of personal information because of this incident, and to date, the company has no evidence that this data was removed from its systems.
What Information Was Involved
Employee, former employee and plan participant information that the unauthorized third party may have accessed may include: full name, home address, date of birth, phone number, financial account information, social security number, photograph of social security card, driver’s license number, photograph of driver’s license, email address, photograph of birth certificate, photograph of passport, treatment information, prescription information, diagnoses, health plan beneficiary number and portal username, password and security questions.
What the Company is Doing
The company took prompt action to investigate the incident as soon as it was discovered and engaged legal and information security experts to assist. In addition to the security measures already in place, the company is also reviewing additional options to enhance its training, technology and security practices to reduce the risk of a similar threat, including requiring multifactor authentication, implementing real-time security monitoring enhancements and revising and redistributing mandatory password protection and reset policies. Additionally, the company is alerting its self-funded health plans’ third-party administrator and notified the three largest nationwide consumer reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – of the incident.
While there is no indication that any individual has suffered harm as a result of the situation, the company recognizes the concern the incident may cause and has arranged for potentially affected individuals to receive complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection for one year.
What Affected Individuals Can Do
Besides using the complimentary credit monitoring and identify theft protection being provided, the company recommends that individuals monitor account statements and free credit reports to detect potential errors resulting from the security incident.
Additional Information
Potentially affected individuals can learn more about this matter by calling the number listed in their mailed notification letter. TINA has a strong commitment to protect personal information, is taking additional steps to enhance data security going forward and apologizes for any concern this situation has caused.