ECHN cyberattack compromised Social Security numbers, medical records
The cyberattack against the Eastern Connecticut Health Network in August resulted in the theft of employee and patient names and Social Security numbers, as well as patients’ confidential health and financial information, according to an attorney representing Prospect Medical Holdings — ECHN’s parent company.
In a letter to the Connecticut attorney general’s office on Friday, Sarah Goldstein, an attorney representing the California-based Prospect, provided an update on the attack.
In the letter, which was obtained by CT Insider, she wrote that Prospect’s computer network was infiltrated and the hackers “accessed and/or acquired files that contain information to certain current and former employees and dependants” of Waterbury Hospital, Rockville General, and Manchester Memorial hospitals.
“For Prospect Medical employees and dependents, the information involved may have included their names and Social Security numbers,” Goldstein wrote.
Patients’ compromised information varied, she wrote, but it includes names, addresses, dates of birth, diagnosis, lab results, medication, and other treatment information, along with insurance information, doctors and facilities visited, dates of treatment, and financial information.
“For some patients, the information may have included their Social Security and/or driver’s license numbers,” Goldstein wrote.
Elizabeth Benton, spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said that the state was verbally told that Social Security numbers were compromised.
Prospect first admitted in August that confidential information was compromised, but had not publicly detailed what information had been potentially stolen until Friday’s letter to the attorney general’s office.
Prospect mailed notification letters through the U.S. Postal Service’s first-class mail to people whose information may have been compromised, including 24,130 Connecticut residents, she wrote.
The hack also resulted in patient information from Prospect’s hospitals in California.
Of the 63 Connecticut residents that were patients at Prospect’s California…
