The health data of patients from the American giant McLaren has been stolen
Nearly 2.2 million people are affected by the data breach affecting McLaren Health Care. All the details on the US healthcare giant
US healthcare giant McLaren Health Care has confirmed that the sensitive personal and health information of 2.2 million patients was compromised in a cyber attack earlier this year. TechCrunch reported it yesterday.
News of the incident broke in October, when ransomware group Alphv (also known as BlackCat) claimed responsibility for the cyberattack, claiming it had accessed millions of patients' personal information. Blackcat also claimed responsibility for the attack on the Italian savings group Azimut last July . The company had said the breach did not harm its customers' sensitive data.
Investigations into the incident revealed that the breach to McLaren systems occurred between July 28 and August 22, before the Michigan-based healthcare company became aware of it on August 31.
The attackers thus gained access to individuals' full names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, health insurance details, billing or claims information, medical data, diagnoses, medical record numbers, prescription/drug information and diagnostic results.
Days after the cyberattack was disclosed, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel warned state residents that the breach “could affect a large number of patients.”
McLaren currently faces at least three class action lawsuits related to the data breach.
All the details.
MCLAREN HEALTH CARE PATIENTS' HEALTH DATA IN THE HANDS OF HACKERS
McLaren confirmed that hackers accessed patients' names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and a wide range of medical information, including billing, insurance claims and diagnosis information, prescription and medication details and information regarding diagnostic results and treatments. Information on Medicare and Medicaid patients was also collected.
ATTACK CLAIMED BY ALPHV/BLACKCAT
While McLaren has not released any details about the attack, such as who was behind it or possible motivations, the Alphv/BlackCat ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the data breach, according to Bleeping Computer .
According to TechCrunch , Alphv/BlackCat had already published samples of data stolen from the healthcare system and warned to sell the entire data set which supposedly covers 2.5 million people. Additionally, Alphv/BlackCat claimed in its post that the group had been in contact with a McLaren representative, without providing evidence for this claim.
WHAT IS MC LAREN HEALTH CARE
McLaren Health Care, based in Flint, Michigan, is a healthcare provider. It represents an integrated healthcare network of 14 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and imaging centers throughout Michigan. It has 28,000 employees in total and over 47,000 network providers.
The company operates Michigan's largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 47 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive centers in the United States. Its operations are housed in more than 350 facilities located throughout the state of Michigan.
THE BUSINESS TURN
The American giant achieved revenue of over $6 billion in 2022.
PROPERTY OF HART MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
As revealed by CrunchBase , McLaren's parent company is Hart Medical Equipment, a supplier and distributor of home medical supplies and equipment.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/cybersecurity/rubati-i-dati-sanitari-dei-pazienti-del-colosso-americano-mclaren/ on Wed, 15 Nov 2023 07:00:41 +0000.