Personal data of 90,000 individuals of two Seattle medical centers has been compromised after a worker opened a message attachment that contained malware.
The event occurred in early October, and was discovered the day after. Unfortunately, the infected computer contained patients’ name, medical record number, address, phone number, dates and services information, charge amounts for services received at UW Medicine, Social Security Number or Medicare number, and birth date.
The hospitals – Harborview Medical Center and University of Washington Medical Center – are run by UW Medicine, which revealed the breach to the public a week ago, and has also begun informing affected patients.
“Based on the results of an internal investigation, it is believed that patient information was not sought or targeted,” they stated in a post on their site. “The incident was referred to the FBI, and patients may be contacted by the FBI as part of its investigation. UW Medicine has also implemented a review, training and outreach effort as a result of this incident.”
“The affected patients will receive direct mail correspondence from UW Medicine,” they added, and the potential victims have been offered free credit-monitoring services.
Medical records where not compromised.
