Massive Breach at Community Health Systems Comprises 4.5M Patients’ Data
Community Health Systems, a hospital operator based out of Tennessee, revealed on Monday that it suffered a hack in both April and June, with 4.5 million people’s personal information being affected.
Community Health Systems has employed the cybersecurity firm Mandiant and is working with them in the investigation of the breach. In the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the hackers are known to be an “Advanced Persistent Threat” group that originates from China. Mandiant has previously reported the same group as the tech wing of the Chinese army involved in the the alleged hacking of the American and British networks last year.
According to the SEC filing, the sophisticated malware attack circumvented the network security CHS had in place. The information that hackers obtained were in relation to patients who has been referred to or from physicians that had connections to the hospital operator. CHS said the following data was compromised:
- Patient names
- Birthdates
- Social security numbers
- Addresses
- Phone numbers
CHS has gotten rid of the malware and is currently working on getting its defenses up. It’s not clear what spurned the attack or why the intruders considered the personal information so valuable. CHS had told the Wall Street Journal that this particular group was usually looking for general industry data.
CHS, who said the affect goes back at least five years, has offered identity theft protection to anyone who has been affected by this serious attack. It said it would also get in touch with the people whose information has been possibly exposed.
Community Health Systems operates 206 hospitals in 29 states including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, Washington, to name a few.
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