News today that Community Health Systems, a national hospital network that operates 206 hospitals across the United States, was the victim of a cyber attack that resulted in the theft of 4.5 million patients.
According to CNN Money, hackers gained access to patient names, Social Security numbers, physical addresses, birthdays and telephone numbers. The breach affects anyone who received treatment from a physician’s office tied to a Community Health Systems network-owned hospital in the last five years.
The FBI is investigating the breach.
Community Health Systems’ hospitals operate in 28 states but have their most significant presence in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.
Help Net Security has a panel of experts comment. The consensus is that the healthcare sector is more in the cross hairs for sophisticated attacks that are intended to steal personal information that can be used for identity theft scams.
Read more over at CNN Money: Hospital network hacked, 4.5 million records stolen – Aug. 18, 2014.
