Another one ? Really , you d think the folks at Clinical Reference Laboratories ( CRL ) would have found a better way to mail packages by now . For the second time in six months , CRL is reporting a package damaged in the mail has created a data breach . This breach involved tests run in connection with Nationwide Insurance applications . A package shipped around February 6th was damaged while in the hands of the US Postal Service ( USPS ) . We have determined that your personal information involved in this incident included your name , date of birth , the last 4 digits of your Social Security number and the type of lab test(s ) conducted , CRLs Chief Compliance Officer David Porter wrote in a letter to potential victims . Porters comments do nt divulge the number of individuals involved . Last October , the Lenexa , Kansas firm announced a damaged package containing invoices had leaked Social Security Numbers ( SSN ) for an unknown number of individuals . Those folks had applied for insurance from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company . At that time Mass Mutual refused to disclose the number of individuals involved or respond to any questions from idRADAR News regarding the breach . USPS practices include segregating and then destroying any documents that become separated from their original package . Still , CRL is offering patients a year of free credit monitoring . CRL has been in business for 30 years and processes 100 million tests annually . A data breach is probably unavoidable for a company this size but two of the same type in less than half a year is concerning . A comparison of breach letters from the October 2013 incident and todays breach announcement shows there s been not much progress in CRL breach mitigation . Some lost invoices from the 2013 breach included full SSNs on the invoices ; it would seem that this latest breach involves only the last 4 digitsa slight improvement but as hackers know , the final 4 are the most useful ones . Hopefully , CRL will now figure out a better way to reinforce the packages it ships . ;