04/01/2025
March 27, 2025
Dear Valued Patients of South Strand Oral Surgery / William F Rinehart DMD,
South Strand Oral Surgery / William F Rinehart DMD writes to inform you of an incident that may affect the security of some of your information. This letter provides an overview of the incident, our response, and steps you may take to better protect yourself should you wish to do so.
What Happened? On January 24, 2025 South Strand Oral Surgery/ William F. Rinehart DMD identified suspicious activity on our network and moved quickly to secure its environment. South Strand Oral Surgery/ William F Rinehart DMD immediately initiated an investigation with the assistance of third-party forensic specialist, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Through the investigation, we determined that there was unauthorized access to our network server on Jan 22, 2025. We then took steps to immediately rebuild the environment and ensure no further unauthorized access remained. Once recovered, we identified that certain limited information pertaining to our patients may have been affected by the incident.
What Information Was Involved? The information that could have been impacted includes your name and date of birth. Importantly, we have confirmed that the encryption in place for our dental software platform would not have allowed for the unauthorized access to your protected health information stored within that platform.
What We Are Doing. South Strand Oral Surgery/ William F Rinehart DMD takes the confidentiality, privacy, and security of information in its care very seriously. Upon discovering the incident, we took immediate steps to secure the network and strengthen our security posture moving forward. South Strand Oral Surgery/ William F Rinehart DMD is offering you access to complimentary credit monitoring and identity restoration services through (IDX) for twelve months. The deadline to enroll in these services is July 25, 2025. Please note that you will need to enroll yourself in these services, as we are not able to do so on your behalf. You will need to contact us for the enrollment code. You can find instructions regarding how to enroll in these services in this letter.
What You Can Do. You can review the Steps You Can Take to Protect Personal Information which contains guidance regarding what you can do to better protect against possible misuse of your information. We also encourage you to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors over the next 12-24 months.
For More Information. We understand you may have questions about the incident that are not addressed in this letter. If you have any questions, please call 843-527-2081, Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm EST. You may also write to South Strand Oral Surgery, Attn: Christy Thomas, 1729 N Fraser St, Georgetown S.C. 29440.
Enroll in Credit Monitoring and Identity Protection
1. Website and Enrollment. Go to https:// app.idx.us/account-creation/protect and follow the instructions for enrollment using your Enrollment Code provided by our office. Please note the deadline to enroll is July 25, 2025
2. Activate the credit monitoring provided as part of your IDX identity protection membership. The monitoring included in the membership must be activated to be effective. Note: You must have established credit and access to a computer and the internet to use this service. If you need assistance, IDX will be able to assist you.
Monitor Your Accounts
Under U.S. Law, a consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order a free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll free, 1-877-332-8228. Consumers may also directly contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below to request a free copy of their report.
Consumers have the right to place an initial or extended “fraud alert” on a credit file at no cost. An initial fraud alert is a 1- year alert that is placed on a consumer’s credit file. Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer’s credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumers identity before extending new credit. If consumers are the victim of identity theft, they are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud lasting seven years. Should consumers wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.
An alternative to fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a “credit freeze” on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit loans, and services from being approved in a consumer’s express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in a consumer’s name without personal and financial information in their credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval if any extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, consumers cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on their credit report. To request a credit freeze, individuals may need to provide some or all of the following information:
1. Full name (including middle initial as well as Jr, Sr, II, III, etc.)
2. Social Security Number
3. Date of birth
4. Addresses for the prior to five years
5. Proof of current address, such as a current utility bill or telephone bill;
6. A legible photocopy of a government-issued identification card (state issued driver’s license of ID card, etc.)
7. A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if they are the victim of identity theft.
Should consumers wish to place a credit freeze, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:
• Experian https://experian.com/help/ 1-888-397-3724
Experian Fraud Alert, PO Box 9554, Allen, T.X. 75013
• Equifax https://equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/
1-888-298-0045 Equifax Fraud Alert, PO Box 105069, Atlanta, G.A. 30348
• TransUnion https://www.transunion.com/credit-help 1-800-916-8800
TransUnion Fraud Alert, PO Box 2000, Chester, P.A. 19016
Additional Information
Consumers may further educate themselves regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, credit freezes, and the steps they can take to protect your personal information by contacting the consumer reporting bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission may be reached at : 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington D.C. 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-Theft (1-877-438-4338 and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. Consumers have the right to file a police report if they ever experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and the relevant state Attorney General. This notice has not been delayed by law.
For South Carolina residents, The South Carolina Attorney General may be contacted at 1000 Assembly S Ste 501, Columbia SC 29201 1-803-734-3970 www.scag.gov
