Kaiser Permanente says third-party trackers passed on 13.4m patients' data to Big Tech companies

U.S. healthcare service provider Kaiser Permanente said it experienced a data security incident that compromised the sensitive personal information of almost 13.4 million individuals.

 

Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente caters to more than 12 million members through 39 hospitals in eight states in the U.S. Its network is composed of more than 700 medical offices with over 300,000 personnel, including more than 80,000 physicians and nurses.

 

In a statement shared with the media, Kaiser said it recently discovered through an internal investigation that the sensitive personal information of its users was “leaked to third-party trackers installed on its websites and mobile applications.”

 

“Kaiser Permanente has determined that certain online technologies, previously installed on its websites and mobile applications, may have transmitted personal information to third-party vendors Google, Microsoft Bing, and X (Twitter) when members and patients accessed its websites or mobile applications,” the company said.

 

A Kaiser official said that the compromised data included member names, IP addresses, information that could indicate if members were signed into a Kaiser Permanente account, details showing how a member or patient navigated through the website and mobile applications, and search terms used in the health encyclopedia.

 

The company has, however, confirmed that usernames, passwords, Social Security Numbers, financial account information, or credit card numbers were not a part of the compromised data.

 

Diana Yee, a company spokesperson, added that the organisation will start notifying almost 13.4 million current and former members and patients who accessed its websites and mobile apps and had their data compromised.

 

Kaiser Permanente assured its members and patients that soon after the incident was identified, the company removed the trackers and took preventive measures to avoid such incidents in the future.