US Healthcare Firm Loses 22GB of Data

Uploaded on 2024-09-17 in FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-Health & Welfare

US company Kootenai Health has explained that a significant cyber security attack hitting over 464k patients personal information was stolen and leaked by the 3AM ransomware hackers.

Kootenai Health is a not-for-profit healthcare provider in the northern US State of Idaho, operating the largest hospital in the region, offering a wide range of medical services, including emergency care, surgery, cancer treatment, cardiac care, and orthopaedics.

Now the threat group which calls itself 3AM ransomware has leaked about 22 gigabytes of data stolen from Kootenai Health. This compromised the personal and protected health information (PHI) of 464,088 individuals, including patients, employees, and their dependents.

In a filing with the Office of Maine Attorney General, Kootenai Health said that on March 2, it identified unauthorised activities in its internal network. The healthcare provider immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident. “The investigation revealed that an unknown actor may have gained unauthorised access to certain data from the Kootenai Health network on or about February 22, 2024,” the healthcare provider said.

The compromised data included names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s licence or government-issued identification numbers, medical record numbers, medical treatment and condition information, medical diagnoses, medication information, and health insurance information.

Kootenai Health’s filing with the Maine state regulator also revealed that at least 464,088 individuals were impacted by the data security incident. While the healthcare provider did not name who was behind the cyber security incident, a group of threat actors going by the name “3AM ransomware” has claimed responsibility for the data security incident and listed Kootenai Health as a victim on its data leak site.

The healthcare firm said that after it discovered the incident, it “implemented additional security features to reduce the risk of a similar incident occurring in the future,” notified the FBI, and said it will provide the authorities with all the information necessary to identify the hackers.

Kootenai Health 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 state attorney general.

It has also offered one year of complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services through IDX to all affected individuals.

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