Over 173,000 people impacted in Tennessee dental care provider breach

Tennessee-based dental care provider, Chord Specialty Dental Partners, said the data security incident it suffered between August and September compromised the sensitive personal information of about 175,000 patients, including their confidential healthcare data.

 

In a data security incident notice published on its website, CDHA Management, LLC and Spark DSO, LLC d/b/a Chord Specialty Dental Partners, said that on September 11, it detected suspicious activity in its internal network. The dental care practice 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.

 

“The investigation determined that an unauthorised individual had gained access to several accounts for a limited time between August 19, 2024, to September 25, 2024,” Chord Specialty said.

 

It said the cyber security incident compromised patients’ data such as their names, addresses, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account information, payment card information, dates of birth, medical information, and health insurance information.

 

Chord reported the data security incident to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, stating that it identified at least 173,430 individuals who were impacted as a result of the incident.

 

While Chord found no evidence of the compromise data being misused, it 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 individuals whose data was compromised during the incident.

 

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