PJ &A (Perry Johnson & Associates) reports a cyberattack that took place in March 2023 and led to the breach of data of nearly nine million patients.
PJ&A provides medical transcription services to healthcare organizations in the United States.
Cybercriminals breached the company's network and accessed the systems between March 27 and May 2, 2023. Unfortunately, the attackers had access to the following personal patient information :
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Medical file number
- Hospital account number
- Admission diagnosis
- Date and time of service
- Social Security Numbers (SSN)
- Insurance information
- Medical transcription records (laboratory and diagnostic test results)
- Drug details
- Names of nursing units and healthcare providers
PJ&A began sending notifications about the data breach on October 31, 2023.
See also: Toronto Public Library: Recent ransomware attack led to data breach
Fortunately, this data breach does not affect financial information or credentials .
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights' breach portal, the breach PJ&A data 8,952,212 patients.
Previously, Chicago's largest healthcare provider, Cook County Health (CCH), notified 1.2 million patients about a breach of their medical records due to the attack on PJ&A.
The day before yesterday, Northwell Health, New York City's largest healthcare provider, also announced that it suffered an indirect breach as a result of the PJ&A hack. The notice states that data was stolen between April 7 and April 19, affecting over 3.8 million people.
See also: Fraudsters earn $50,000 a day impersonating cryptocurrency researchers
This means that another four million people, whose medical data was exposed through other healthcare providers, have not yet been notified.
Consequences of a patient data breach
The potential consequences of a data breach can be multiple and serious. First, there are implications for the privacy and security of patients' personal data. The leaked information can be used for identity theft, fraud, and other malicious activities.
Furthermore, data breaches can have a negative impact on patient trust in healthcare organizations. Patients may feel insecure and frustrated by the inadequacy of security implemented.
See also: BlackCat ransomware: Gang sues victim for not disclosing breach
Finally, data leaks can have implications for the healthcare sector in general. Malicious actors can use the information to carry out attacks in the healthcare sector (e.g. falsifying medical prescriptions or accessing sensitive medical data to cause harm to patients or to affect the research and development of new drugs and treatments).
Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com
