Charleston Area Medical Center Breach Had 54,000 Victims
Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) located in Charleston, WV, has just announced a phishing attack that allowed unauthorized individuals to get access to the email accounts of some of its staff members. The compromise of the email accounts happened from January 10 to 11, 2022. CAMC found out about the unauthorized access on January 10, steps were undertaken quickly to keep safe the affected accounts, and a top-rated cybersecurity forensics company was hired to investigate the incident.
A comprehensive review was performed on the emails contained in the accounts to find out which patient information was potentially accessed. The team completed the audit on March 16, 2022. The forensic investigation reveals the attacker was not trying to acquire access to patient data, instead, the goal appeared to be to gather employee login details, nevertheless data theft can’t be ruled out.
The hacker possibly accessed the following types of information: first and last names, medical record numbers, and health data like discharge dates, screening data, and diagnostic and treatment data. CAMC stated that the Social Security numbers and/or financial account numbers of under 0.001% of the possibly affected individuals were also exposed, although there were no access codes compromised that would permit the access of financial accounts.
CAMC stated impacted people were notified and technical security steps were enhanced to avoid further data breaches later on. The breach report was submitted to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights indicating that 54,000 persons were affected.
Advanced Medical Practice Management Issues Notification Letters Concerning a Cyberattack and Data Theft Incident in July 2021
Advanced Medical Practice Management (AMPM), a medical billing administrator in New Jersey, recently reported that it encountered a cyberattack that affected the records of a number of its healthcare provider clientele. AMPM discovered suspicious activity associated with files inside its IT system on August 5, 2021, and instantly kept its network secure. The forensic investigation of the attack affirmed that unauthorized persons got access and downloaded selected files from July 11, 2021 to July 13, 2021.
AMPM performed a detailed review of all data files on its system that were possibly viewed or exfiltrated, then verified contact details in order to issue notifications. That course of action was done on January 27, 2022, the impacted clients were informed, and authorization was acquired to issue notification letters. AMPM stated that one or more of these types of data of the persons impacted were exposed or stolen from its systems:
Name, financial account data, Social Security number, driver’s license and/or state ID number, credit and/or debit card number, CVV number and expiration date, birth date, passport number, electronic signature details, medical record number, prescription data, Medicaid number, Medicare number, treatment site, doctor’s name, diagnosis, medical insurance details, and/or other medical treatment data.
AMPM mentioned it has evaluated its guidelines and procedures and has applied more safety measures to avoid other data breaches later on. The breach was reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights as impacting 56,427 persons.