Florida Retina Center confirms major data breach impacting patients and staff

Florida Retina Center has announced a significant data security breach that compromised the sensitive personal information of approximately 15,000 patients and employees.

 

Florida Retina Center is a specialty ophthalmology practice headquartered in Orlando, Florida, providing comprehensive diagnosis and treatment for retinal diseases and disorders.

 

The practice offers advanced medical and surgical eye care through multiple locations across Central Florida, specialising in conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachments, and other vision-threatening disorders.

 

In a data security incident notice published on its website, Florida Retina Center said that on January 30, it  identified unauthorised access within its internal network. The healthcare provider immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

 

It also took steps to secure the affected systems and notified relevant law enforcement authorities about the incident.

 

“An unauthorised third party attempted to infiltrate its network environment. Upon detecting the incident, Florida Retina Center moved quickly to secure its network environment and engaged a specialised third party forensic incident response firm to assist with securing the network environment and determine the scope and extent of any potential unauthorised access of our systems,” Florida Retina Center said.

 

The compromised data included name, date of birth, Social Security number, driver’s license number and medical information. In a filing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, the healthcare provider said it has identified at least 13,652 individuals impacted by the incident.

 

Florida Retina Center has 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 the state attorney general.It has also offered complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services to all individuals.

 

At the time of publishing, no known hacker group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on Florida Retina Center. The healthcare provider also did not share details on who was behind the attack, how much data was compromised, or whether it had received a ransom demand.