ST. LOUIS—The American Optometric Association (AOA) has requested the Department of Justice investigate and attempt to uncover the identity of people responsible for an “ongoing data breach affecting optometry.”

In a recent post on the AOA website, the association noted that “another wave of malicious credit card applications [that] keeps the profession reeling” prompted its board of trustees to approve a motion “encouraging optometric organizations to take immediate steps to meet recognized standards for data security.” AOA’s trustees passed the motion Oct. 8.

“The new resolution calls for a united effort by AOA, affiliates and others, asking each to petition optometric testing organizations, including the National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO), and state boards of optometry to eliminate the use of SSNs as personal identifiers, in favor of unique identifier numbers, wholly unrelated to SSNs or other sensitive personal information,” AOA noted.

The association said “the source of this particular data breach is still unknown.”

The post noted that following initial reports of unsolicited, fraudulent applications for Chase Amazon.com Visa cards in early August, AOA contacted the FBI and Federal Trade Commission. More recently as the problem continued, AOA drafted a letter to the U.S. Attorney General's Office that requested further Department of Justice investigation into the identity thefts affecting untold numbers in optometry.

AOA said it encourages all doctors of optometry—not only students and new graduates—to “initiate credit monitoring, as all signs point to profession-wide involvement.”

AOA reiterated that no breach of the AOA systems occurred, and that AOA does not gather SSNs through its membership process.