Allaire Healthcare Group and Platinum Hospitalists have recently announced that an unauthorized individual has acquired access to the email account of an employee and possibly viewed or stolen patient data.
PHI Possibly Compromised Due to Email Account Breach at Allaire Healthcare Group
Allaire Healthcare Group based in Freehold, NJ manages five residential healthcare facilities in the tri-state area that give dementia care, respite care, and subacute care. It found out that an unauthorized person has obtained access to one worker’s email account. The group discovered the suspicious activity in the worker’s email account on November 24, 2021. It took immediate steps to keep the account as well as its email system safe and to stop further unauthorized access.
The forensic investigation revealed that the breach only affected a single email account, which the unauthorized individual accessed from November 10, 2021 to November 24, 2021. A programmatic and manual evaluation of the impacted email account was done on March 18, 2022. The analysis confirmed that the email account included the protected health information (PHI) of 13,148 people, such as first and last names, Allaire-issued unique client identifier numbers, driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, financial account numbers, payment card information, data concerning medical records, treatment/diagnosis details, prescription data, and/or health insurance details.
The forensic investigation did not find any evidence that suggests the access or downloading of any of that information. There are no reports received about any incidents of attempted or actual misuse of the information.
Platinum Hospitalists Uncovers Phishing Attack and Data Breach
Platinum Hospitalists has just begun sending notifications to 6,000 patients concerning the potential compromise of some of their PHI. On March 29, 2022, Platinum Hospitalists learned that an unauthorized person accessed an email account. The investigation confirmed that the employee’s credentials were stolen after responding to a phishing email. The breach only affected one email account. A review of the account revealed that it comprised individually identifiable protected health information.
Platinum Hospitalists stated that patient data is encrypted every time it is sent externally, which includes via email, however, the nature of the attack meant the data in the account might have been accessed and copied in a readable form. The investigation could not verify the specific records that were compromised, nevertheless, the following types of data were seen in the email account: patient names, dates of birth, dates of service, diagnosis and procedure codes, medical record numbers/patient account numbers, insurance identification numbers, and invoiced amounts. There is no breach of addresses or Social Security numbers.
The information is mostly about patients who were insured through Humana and got medical services from Platinum organizations at acute hospitals and other medical facilities in the area of Las Vegas between roughly October 2018 and March 2022.