14 DAY TRIAL // North Carolina health provide Atrium Health disclosed a data breach that impacted 2.65 million patients after a hacking group managed to compromise the systems of its billing services provider, AccuDoc.
According to Atrium Health's data breach notification, Accudoc terminated all unauthorized access to its systems as soon as the attack was detected.
Furthermore, Accudoc also hired a forensic investigation firm to analyze the cyber attack and the effects of the cybersecurity incident, and it eventually found out that the attackers managed to gain access to its database between September 22 and September 29.
The billing vendor informed Atrium Health of the security breach on October 1, which proceeded to engage its own forensic investigation team to perform an independent review of the data breach event.
"Based on the review, the information that may have been accessed included certain personal information about patients and guarantors (a person who is responsible for paying a patient’s bill), including first and last name, home address, date of birth, insurance policy information, medical record number, invoice number, account balance, and dates of service," says Atrium.
700,000 patients had their Social Security Numbers stolen
Furthermore, according to the forensic investigation, some of the individuals impacted by the attack also had their Social Security Numbers (SSNs) stolen with their personal information.
On the whole, Atrium Health reported that 2,65 million patients were affected by the security breach incident, out of which roughly 700,000 also had their SSNs taken.
Atrium Health reported possible unauthorized access to payment information related to health services at an Atrium Health location (formerly Carolinas HealthCare System), as well as at Blue Ridge HealthCare System, Columbus Regional Health Network, NHRMC Physician Group, Scotland Physicians Network, and St. Luke’s Physician Network.
All patients who had their Social Security numbers within the stolen records are also being provided with free access to identity protection and credit monitoring services.