PDATED: NOTICE CONCERNING THE AVAILABILITY OF IDENTITY MONITORING AND IDENTITY RESTORATION SERVICES

Dear Georgia Voters:

This important legal notice is an update to the notice previously provided by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office on November 19, 2015 concerning the inadvertent release of personal information, and includes information on the identity monitoring and identity restoration services offered to all registered Georgia voters whose information was included in the inadvertent release. More information can be found at the Secretary of State’s website, http://sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections/statement_on_voter_data_security, or by calling 404-654-6045.

As previously reported, on November 13, 2015, the Georgia Secretary of State’s office learned that voters’ personal information was inadvertently included on a statewide voter disc that was sent to twelve recipients in October 2015. These recipients included Georgia political parties and media outlets. As of November 19, 2015, all twelve discs were accounted for.  Ten discs were retrieved by the Secretary of State’s office, and the other two were confirmed to be disposed of by the recipients.

Individuals Impacted

All registered voters in Georgia as of October 13, 2015 may be impacted. To check if you are a registered voter, visit the Georgia My Voter Page at www.mvp.sos.ga.gov.

Information Included

The information on the discs included names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers (if provided), driver’s license numbers (if provided), voter registration numbers, phone numbers (if provided), gender (if provided), race (if provided), and voter precinct information.

Dedicated Hotline

The Secretary of State’s office has established a dedicated hotline that you can call if you have questions related to this incident. That number is 404- 654-6045. We have included contact information for the three nationwide credit bureaus below.

Identity Monitoring and Restoration Services

The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has contracted with CSID to provide one year of complimentary identity monitoring and identity restoration services to Georgia voters whose information was contained on the October 13, 2015 voter list. Enrollment in the monitoring services will remain open through February 14, 2016.

Before enrolling in the monitoring services, you will first need to validate your eligibility through the instructions provided by accessing the link below. This service is offered to all registered voters whose information appeared on the October 13, 2015 voter list. To confirm your eligibility and enroll in CSID Protector coverage, click the below link:

https://www.csid.com/gasos/

In addition to the option of enrolling in CSID Protector, CSID is providing identity restoration services to any eligible voter if their identity is stolen at any point through December 31, 2016. The identity restoration services are offered to every Georgia voter whose information appeared on the October 13, 2015 voter list. No enrollment is required for the identity restoration services.

If you have any questions or if you are unable to validate your eligibility even though you believe you were a registered voter as of October 13, 2015, please contact the Secretary of State Data Security Hotline at 404-654-6045.

Fraud Prevention Tips

We want to make you aware of steps you may take to guard against identity theft or fraud.

We recommend that potentially impacted individuals remain vigilant for incidents of fraud and identity theft; this includes reviewing account statements and monitoring free credit reports. It is always a good idea to review your payment card statements carefully and call your bank or card issuer if you see any suspicious transactions. The policies of Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover provide that you have zero liability for any unauthorized charges if you report them in a timely manner.

You are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three national credit bureaus, whose contact information is below. To order your free credit report, you can also visit www.annualcreditreport.com, call toll-free at 877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form on the FTC’s website (www.ftc.gov) and mail it to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. Review your credit report carefully to ensure that the information it contains is accurate. If you see anything on your credit report or credit card accounts that appears incorrect, contact the credit reporting agencies and/or your credit card provider.

Report suspected incidents of identity theft to local law enforcement, the Federal Trade Commission, or your state attorney general. To learn more, you can go to the FTC’s web site at www.consumer.gov/idtheft, call the FTC at 877-IDTHEFT, or write to the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Response Center at 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20580. The Georgia Department of Law Consumer Protection Unit may be contacted by telephone at 404-651-8600 or 800-869-1123 (toll-free in Georgia, outside of the metro Atlanta calling area) or by mail at 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., Suite 356, Atlanta, GA 30334. You can visit their website with additional information about identity theft at http://consumer.georgia.gov/consumer-topics/identity-theft-what-to-do-if-it-happens-to-you.

You should be aware of scam email campaigns targeting individuals. These scams, designed to capture personal information (known as “phishing”), are designed to appear as if they are from the Secretary of State, and the emails include a “click here” link for credit monitoring. These emails are NOT from the Secretary of State. If you are concerned about the validity of any email, you can reach the identity restoration sign up page directly by typing https://www.csid.com/gasos/ directly into your web browser.

  • DO NOT reply to the email or reach out to the senders in any way.
  • DO NOT supply any information on the website that may open, if you have clicked on a link in the email (other than https://www.csid.com/gasos/).
  • DO NOT open any attachments that arrive with the email.

The Secretary of State is not calling individuals regarding the incident and is not asking for credit card information or Social Security numbers, although you will have to verify your social security number with CSID if you choose to enroll in those services. For more guidance on recognizing scam email, please visit the FTC website: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0003-phishing.

Credit Bureau Information
Equifax PO BOX 740241 ATLANTA GA 30374-0241 1-800-685-1111 equifax.com Experian PO BOX 9532 ALLEN TX 75013 1-888-397-3742 experian.com TransUnion PO BOX 2000 CHESTER, PA 19016 1-800-916-8800 transunion.com

Fraud Alert and Credit Freeze Information

You may obtain additional information from the FTC and the nationwide credit bureaus about fraud alerts and security freezes. You can add a fraud alert to your credit report file to help protect your credit information. A fraud alert can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you, but it also may delay your ability to obtain credit. You may place a fraud alert in your file by calling just one of the three nationwide credit bureaus listed above. As soon as that bureau processes your fraud alert, it will notify the other two bureaus, which then must also place fraud alerts in your file. In addition, you can visit the credit bureau links below to determine if and how you may place a security freeze on your credit report to prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information from your credit report without your prior written authorization:

Brian Kemp has been Secretary of State since January 2010. Among the office’s wide-ranging responsibilities, the Secretary of State is charged with conducting secure, accessible, and fair elections, the registration of corporations, and the regulation of securities, charities, and professional license holders.