Hospital Data Breach Exposes Personal Info of 1.3 Million Patients, Staff

A hospital data breach has exposed the expansive personal information of more than 1 million patients and staff members of the Broward Health hospital system.

US Federal Courts Data Breach: Justice Department Investigates Records System Cyberattack
(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 04, 2020, Prince, a member of the hacking group Red Hacker Alliance who refused to give his real name, uses his computer at their office in Dongguan, China's southern Guangdong province. by NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images

Hospital Data Breach Exposes Personal Info

According to the report by WSVN, the breached data of both patients and staff includes basic identity information, such as their name, phone number, address, email address, and even date of birth.

On top of that, the exposed personal data also include Social Security numbers, bank or financial account information, account number, and insurance information.

Not just that, the data breach also dug up the medical information of the patients, including their diagnosis, medical history, condition, and even the treatment that they have undergone.

Although it is to note that the hospital system has yet to reveal the number of affected patients and staff, the filing to the office of the Maine Attorney General showed that the breach has affected more than 1.3 million individuals.

Hospital Data Breach

It is worth noting that, as per the news story by ZDNet, the data breach started last Oct. 15, 2021. But the hospital system in Florida only warned its victims about the "medical identity theft" this January 2022.

It turns out that the Justice Department has asked the Broward Health hospital system to hold off any notification for their affected staff and patients, which account for more than a million, the Florida-based firm claimed.

As such, it took Broward Health a couple of months before telling those who have been affected by the cyberattack that a copious amount of their sensitive and personal information has been breached.

The Florida hospital system said in a statement that "Broward Health discovered the intrusion and promptly contained the incident, notified the FBI and the Department of Justice, and engaged an independent cybersecurity firm to conduct an investigation."

On top of that, Broward Health claimed that officials ruled out that there are no signs that the hackers have misused the personal information that they have accessed.

The hospital further revealed that the cyberattack began from "the office of a third-party medical provider," which had access to the system of Broward Health.

The hospital system learned about the data breach on Oct. 19, 2021, and has taken steps to contain it.

The Florida hospital system said in a statement that "Broward Health discovered the intrusion and promptly contained the incident, notified the FBI and the Department of Justice, and engaged an independent cybersecurity firm to conduct an investigation."

Elsewhere, T-Mobile also figured in a data breach before 2021 comes to an end, or on Dec. 29.

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Written by Teejay Boris

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