Florida Community Health Centres says data breach impacted nearly 300,000 patients

Healthcare nonprofit Florida Community Health Centres said it experienced a data security incident that compromised the sensitive personal information of close to 300,000 individuals.

 

In a data breach notice filed with the Office of the Maine Attorney General, Florida Community Health Centres said it identified suspicious activity in its internal network in June last year and immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

 

“The forensic investigation concluded there was evidence indicating that patient health information may have been accessed during the Incident by an unauthorised user,” reads the notice.

 

While the healthcare centre did not mention the nature of the compromised data, in a notice on its website, FCHC said that it obtains sensitive personal information like names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, financial information, health information, medical information, driver’s license numbers, which might have been compromised during the incident.

 

FCMC’s filing with the Maine state regulator revealed that at least 296,635 individuals were impacted by the data security incident.

 

“Since the discovery of the Incident, FCHC implemented security enhancement measures to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future, such as strengthening password requirements, implementing new technical and physical safeguards to secure the data within its possession, and providing additional cybersecurity training for its employees,” FCHC added.

 

While the healthcare services provider found no evidence of the compromised information being misused, it advised all affected individuals to regularly monitor their credit reports, account and benefit statements and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities, including the police and state attorney general.

 

It has also offered one year of complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services through Cyberscout to all affected individuals.