WV Healthcare Providers & NJ Medical Billing Administrator Report Data Breaches

It was recently revealed that Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) was infiltrated by a cyberattack where the email accounts of some staff members were accessed by cybercriminals in a phishing campaign.

The email accounts were initially accessed at some point in time on January 10 or 11 earlier this year. CAMC became aware of the breach on January 10 and moved swiftly to mitigate the attack on the impacted accounts, and an external firm of cybersecurity specialists was contracted to review the impact of the cyberattack.

An in-depth analysis of the breach was completed to examine the extent of the damage inflicted on the illegally accessed patient data and the results were made available on March 16. The investigation results indicated that the cybercriminal was seeking staff log-in credentials as opposed to attempting to access patient data/ However, the cybersecurity specialists could not 100% eliminate the possibility that data theft had taken place.

The range of data that may have been available to the phishers includes names details, medical record information, discharge dates, test outcomes, and diagnostic and treatment data. CAMC revealed that less than 0.001% of those impacted also had their Social Security information and/or financial account numbers accessed. However. it is thought that no access codes were compromised that would permit allow financial accounts to be infiltrated by the attackers.

CAMC said those individuals who had their data impacted in the breach have been made aware of it and their technical security measures have been bolstered to stop additional data breaches going forward. The breach has been made known to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights and the official breach notification states that it has impacted 54,000 individuals.

Meanwhile, Advanced Medical Practice Management (AMPM) in New Jersey has revealed that it was target successfully in a cyberattack that focused on the data held by several of its healthcare provider clients. AMPM first spotted suspicious activity connected to files held on its databases on August 5, 2021, and moved quickly to mitigate the attack. The forensic review of the breach showed that unauthorized individuals had been able to log onto the databases and steal some files between July 11, 2021, and July 13, 2021.

An in-depth review was carried out on all files on its network that may have been accessed or stolen, then contact information was identified so that notifications could be broadcast. The review was completed on January 27, 2022 and those impacted were then sent notification letters to make them aware of it. AMPM revealed that some individuals impacted had one or more of the following types of data exposed or stolen from its systems:

• Name
• Social Security number
• financial account information
• Driver’s license and/or state identification number
• Credit and/or debit card number
• Expiration date(s)
• CVV number
• Date of birth
• Passport number
• Electronic signature information
• Medical record number
• Prescription information
• Medicare number
• Medicaid number
• Treatment location
• Physician’s name
• Diagnosis
• Health insurance information
• Medical treatment information.

Following this AMPM complete a review of it’s processes and configured more security measures to stop any more data breaches occurring going forward. The breach has also been made known to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights as impacting 56,427 people.