An urgent warning has been issued to more than a million Americans after their medical records were stolen in a data breach.
Community Health Center (CHC), based in Connecticut, started e -mailing 1,060,936 patients to let them know that 'discovered that a competent criminal hacker was in our system and has taken some data, including your personal information.'
The data may include the patient's name, date of birth, telephone number, e -mail, diagnoses, treatment data, test results, social security number and information about health insurance policies.
The infringement, which took place on October 14, 2024, influenced the current and former patients, “and all persons who received a Covid test or vaccine in a CHC clinic.”
CHC determined that the hacker infiltrated 'are insufficiently secured computer environment', access to its data files.
The company said it “added special software to look at suspicious activities.”
The law firm is investigating claims on behalf of patients said: “The personal and very sensitive information of these persons can be in the hands of cyber criminals who can place the information for sale on the dark web or use the information to commit identity theft.”
Murphy Law Firm is currently investigating the infringement of determining whether a Class Action right case can be filed against CHC.
Community Health Center (CHC), based in Connecticut, started e -mailing 1,060,936 patients to let them know that 'discovered that a competent criminal hacker was in our system and has taken some data, including your personal information'
CHC noted that patients who received a COVID test or vaccine in one of the clinics, probably their name, date of birth, telephone number, e -mail, address, gender, race, ethnicity and insurance information.
The data breach was discovered when CHC remarked 'unusual activity' in its computer system last month.
“The same day we brought in experts to investigate and strengthen the security of our systems,” the company reads to patients.
'The criminal hacker has not deleted or locked any of our data and the activity of the criminal had no influence on our daily activities.
'We believe that we have stopped access to the criminal hacker within a few hours and that there is no current threat to our systems.
“So far there is no sign that your information has been misused.”
Dailymail.com has contacted CHC for comments.
The company has given patients free access to IDX, a company that monitors credit and helps protect data.
The data breach was discovered when CHC noticed 'unusual activity' in its computer system last month
“If you need help, IDX will work with you to solve problems with your identity,” says CHC.
The Hippa Journal showed that an average of 16,395,000 records were violated in 2024.
“Healthcare has some of the worst cyber security practices in the nation,” said Senator Mark Warner, “despite the crucial interest for Americans” well-being and privacy. '
However, the Hippa report noted that the number was before 2024 'Crooked through the mass data breach at Change Healthcare that hit an estimated 100 million people. '
Change Healthcare, owned by UnitedHealth Group, fell victim to a cyber attack in February, but revealed the full scale of the attack in October.
It reported for the first time in July that the files of only 500 patients were affected, but later found the number at least 100 million.
The BlackCat/Alphv Ransomware group was behind the attack in the hope of making a payment of a million dollars.
Changed healthcare would have paid a ransom of $ 22 million, but the attackers claimed that they were not paid and provided the stolen data to another group who subsequently tried a second extension of the company.
“This was not only the biggest data break in the health care of all time, it also caused more disruption than any other cyber attack in health care because of the number of health care organizations that were dependent on the Systems of Change Healthcare and the long -term malfunction,” said it Hippa Journal report.
“The attack prevented patients to obtain medication, unless they could pay them from their own pockets, and the malfunction caused serious disruption of the turnover cycles of care providers, which pushed many small practices to the edge of closure.”
