Published on November 2, 2012
By Brendan Kearney, Charleston Post and Courier
When Michael Burkhold Jr. heard last week that a hack into the South Carolina Department of Revenue had exposed him to potential identity theft, he registered for the state-sponsored Experian ProtectMyID service.
When news broke this week that not only individual but also business tax returns were compromised, Burkholdโs thoughts turned to Equiscript, his Charleston-based prescription-management company.
In addition to the exposed business checking account, Burkhold is concerned that his and his partnerโs Social Security numbers were on those tax returns, and that his employeesโ Social Security numbers were submitted for withholding purposes.
So he has asked his in-house accountant to enroll Equiscript in the free credit-monitoring service offered by Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. and to look into what else needs to be done to protect the company.
โRight now weโre just trying to figure out,โ Burkhold said. โI donโt feel secure about any of it.โ
Burkhold is one of thousands of South Carolina business owners coping with the news that they could be doubly victimized as a result of the massive hack announced Friday.
After some initial uncertainty, Gov. Nikki Haley revealed Wednesday that, in addition to 3.6 million individual taxpayers, some 587,000 business records are also at risk.
She seemed to downplay the risk to businesses, saying checking account routing numbers and employer identification numbers are essentially public information, before adding that Social Security numbers could be among the hacked data and strongly urging businesses to enroll in Dun & Bradstreetโs CreditAlert service.
โSo what I can tell you is they got what is already public,โ she said Wednesday. โBut again I would recommend businesses take advantage of Dun & Bradstreet and sign up.โ
Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, appreciates the free service, but not the governorโs characterization of the exposure. Itโs one thing to write a check to your doctor or a neighborhood business owner and another for โan international hacker thiefโ to surreptitiously swipe the information, he said.
โItโs not the same, and really I donโt understand why they need to give everybody a false sense of confidence,โ said Knapp, who also owns a Columbia advertising agency.
Knapp is recommending the Experian and Dun & Bradstreet services and advising his organizationโs 5,000 members close their checking accounts and open new ones.
Anja Stief, owner of Dish and Design Catering in Mount Pleasant, said she hasnโt gone that far yet, but she has instructed her accountant to start by changing the accountsโ passwords and signing up for the Dun & Bradstreet service.
โAt this point I think thatโs the smart thing to do,โ Stief said. โWe just need to protect ourselves.โ
Jeff Meyer, president of J. Meyer Homes, a Mount Pleasant-based homebuilder responsible for neighborhoods in Ladson and Hollywood, hasnโt taken any protective action yet.
โWe monitor our financial accounts, so I havenโt hit the panic button about it,โ he said, adding that he is more concerned about โother aspects of the ecomony.โ
โIโm more worried about whether people can get qualified for a mortgage,โ he said.
Reach Brendan Kearney at 937-5906 and follow him on Twitter at @kearney_brendan.
Original Article:ย http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20121102/PC16/121109859