Md. Nonprofit Serving Disabled Reports Data Breach

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) -- Someone hacked the computers of a state-licensed provider of services to the developmentally disabled and stole Social Security numbers and medical information for about 9,700 clients, the organization and the state agency that oversees it said Monday.

Frederick-based Service Coordination Inc. said it learned of the security breach in late October but didn't begin notifying affected individuals until Friday. Part of the delay came at the request of the U.S. Justice Department to allow for a federal investigation, the nonprofit organization said.

Service Coordination said investigators have identified the alleged hacker and seized that person's equipment and accounts.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr in Washington said he could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Service Coordination said there's been no evidence the information was misused or released. Spokesman Michael Baisey wrote in an email that the breach involved one document containing information for about 70 percent of the group's 13,900 clients.

He said his organization will assist clients and families in checking their credit reports and registering for a free year of identity theft protection.

Service Coordination is one of five private organizations licensed by the state's Developmental Disabilities Administration, an agency of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, to provide services, said Patrick Dooley, the administration's acting director.

Dooley said it was Service Coordination's responsibility to assist people with credit checks and ID theft protection, because they had the breach.

"We want to make sure people get the help they need. We'll be working with SCI to make sure people get the help they need," Dooley said.

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