NOTICE OF DATA PRIVACY INCIDENT

January 15, 2025 – Cape Fear Aesthetics (“Cape Fear” or “we”) is providing notice of a recent data security incident that may affect the privacy of certain individuals’ information. Cape Fear takes this incident very seriously and is providing information about the incident, the response to it, and resources available to individuals to help protect their information, should they feel it appropriate to do so.

What Happened? On March 28, 2024, Cape Fear detected suspicious activity in its network environment. Upon discovery of this incident, Cape Fear promptly took steps to secure its network environment and engaged a specialized cybersecurity firm to investigate the nature and scope of the incident. As a result of the investigation, Cape Fear learned that an unauthorized actor accessed certain files and data stored within our network. Upon learning this, Cape Fear began a time-consuming and detailed reconstruction and review of the data stored on the server at the time of this incident to understand whose information was affected. On July 10, 2024, Cape Fear identified persons whose personal health information (“PHI”) was included within the impacted data. At this time, we have no evidence any of the information has been misused by a third party, but because information related to certain individuals was disclosed, we are notifying them out of full transparency.

What Information Was Involved? Cape Fear  has notified impacted individuals and provided information and resources to help protect individuals’ personal information. The following types of information may have been impacted: name, date of birth, and treatment-related information.

What Cape Fear is Doing. Data security is one of Cape Fear’s highest priorities. Upon detecting this incident, we moved quickly to initiate an investigation, which included retaining a leading forensic investigation firm who assisted in conducting an investigation and confirming the security of our network environment. We also deployed additional monitoring tools and will continue to enhance the security of our systems. We take the protection and proper use of personal information very seriously. As part of its ongoing commitment to the information privacy and the security of information, Cape Fear is reviewing and enhancing its existing policies and procedures related to data privacy to reduce the likelihood of a similar future incident. Cape Fear is notifying impacted individuals for whom Cape Fear has a valid mailing address via U.S. mail and offering them credit monitoring and identity protection services. Cape Fear has also notified applicable regulators.

How Will Individuals Know If They Are Affected By This Event? Cape Fear is mailing a notice letter to individuals whose information was determined to be in the affected files, for whom a valid mailing address is available. If an individual does not receive a letter but would like to know if they are affected, they may call Cape Fear’s dedicated assistance line, detailed below.

Whom Should Individuals Contact For More Information? If individuals have questions or would like additional information, they may call Cape Fear’s dedicated assistance line at 1-800-405-6108, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. This excludes all major U.S. holidays.

What You Can Do. Cape Fear encourages individuals to remain vigilant against incident of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your account statements, explanation of benefits forms, and monitoring your free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. Under U.S. law individuals are entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus. To order a free credit report, visit https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. Individuals may also contact the three major credit bureaus directly to request a free copy of their credit report, place a fraud alert, or a security freeze. Contact information for the credit bureaus is below:

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 consumer’s identity before extending new credit. If you are a victim of identity theft, you are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any one of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.

As an alternative to a fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a “credit freeze” on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information in the credit report without the consumer’s express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in your name without your consent. However, you should be aware that using a credit freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in your credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application you make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, you cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on your credit report. To request a security freeze, you may need to provide the following information, depending on whether the request is made online, by phone, or by mail:

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 two 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 driver’s license or ID card, etc.); and
7. A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if you are a victim of identity theft.

Should you wish to place a fraud alert or a credit freeze, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:

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, or their state Attorney General. The Federal Trade Commission may be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue 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 can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. 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, consumers will likely need to provide some proof that they have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and the relevant state Attorney General. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.

For Arizona residents, the Attorney General may be contacted at the Consumer Protection & Advocacy Section, 2005 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004, 1-602-542-5025.

For Colorado residents, the Attorney General may be contacted through Consumer Protection 1300 Broadway, 9th Floor, Denver, CO 80203 1-720-508-6000, www.coag.gov.

For District of Columbia residents, the Attorney General may be contacted at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, 441 4th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001, 1-202-727-3400, www.oag.dc.gov.

For Illinois residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 100 West Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601; 1-866-999-5630; www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov.

For Iowa residents, you can report any suspected identity theft to law enforcement or to the Attorney General.

For Massachusetts residents, it is required by state law that you are informed of your right to obtain a police report filed in regard to this incident. If you are the victim of identity theft, you also have the right to file a police report and obtain a copy of it.

For Maryland residents, you may also may also wish to review information provided by the Maryland Attorney General on how to avoid identity theft at https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Pages/IdentityTheft/default.aspx, or by sending an email to idtheft@oag.state.md.us, or calling 410-576-6491.

For New Mexico residents, state law advises you to review personal account statements and credit reports, as applicable, to detect errors resulting from the security breach. You also have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in your credit file has been used against you, the right to know what is in your credit file, the right to ask for your credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting agencies must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to your file is limited; you must give your consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; you may limit “prescreened” offers of credit and insurance you get based on information in your credit report; and you may seek damages from violators. You may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage you to review your rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act at www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

For New York residents, you may contact and obtain information from these state agencies: New York Department of State Division of Consumer Protection, One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12231-0001, 518-474-8583 / 1-800-697-1220, http://www.dos.ny.gov/consumerprotection; and New York State Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341, 1-800-771-7755, https://ag.ny.gov

For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001, 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6400, and www.ncdoj.gov. You may also obtain information about steps you can take to prevent identify theft from the North Carolina Attorney General at https://ncdoj.gov/protecting-consumers/protecting-your-identity/protect-yourself-from-id-theft/.

For Oregon residents, state law advises you to report any suspected identity theft to law enforcement, including the Attorney General, and the Federal Trade Commission.

For Rhode Island residents, this incident involves 0 individuals in Rhode Island. Under Rhode Island law, you have the right to file and obtain a copy of a police report. You also have the right to request a security freeze, as described above. You may contact and obtain information from your state attorney general at: Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903, 1-401-274-4400, www.riag.ri.gov.

For Vermont Residents: If you do not have internet access but would like to learn more about how to place a security freeze on your credit report, contact the Vermont Attorney General’s Office at 802-656-3183 (800-649-2424 toll free in Vermont only).

For More Information. If individuals have questions or would like additional information, they may call Cape Fear’s dedicated assistance line at 1-800-405-6108 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. This excludes all major U.S. holidays.