People affected by the massive hacking of South Carolina’s Revenue Department servers are being offered another year of free credit monitoring. But they’ll have to sign up again, this time with a different company than the state used previously, as officials outlined Tuesday.
Enrollment begins next week for protection through CSIdentity Corp. South Carolina is paying the Texas company up to $8.5 million to provide credit monitoring to people affected by the September 2012 theft of unencrypted information from the Revenue Department’s computer servers.
Credit bureau Experian had been doing that work for nearly 1.5 million people under a $12 million contract. Handled as an emergency situation, that contract was signed without competitive bidding.
Everyone affected by the hacking is eligible for CSID’s services, but the service will not transfer enrollment from Experian, so they’ll have to sign up again. During a news conference at the Statehouse, Gov. Nikki Haley said that she’s received no pushback from people frustrated at having to sign up a second time.
“No complaints so far. I don’t anticipate any,” Haley said. “People are thankful that we are continuing the protection.”
During the past year’s budget debate, legislators were critical of Experian’s after-the-fact notifications of opened credit accounts. They sought better protections and designated $10 million for the first year of a five-year contract.
People interested in the service can call CSID at 855-880-2743 or visit www.scidprotection.com. CSID President Ross said telephone landlines throughout the state will receive automated telephone messages with signup information, and the company is taking out radio and newspaper ads throughout the state as well.