Methodist Hospitals Data Breach Announced

A Methodist Hospitals data breach warning of a potential threat to sensitive information was posted on the organization’s website so that those who were affected “may take steps to better protect their personal information,” according to the October announcement.

The notice was given so that those that may have been affected might better institute protective practices and safeguards on their end to limit further compromise and damage. The Methodist Hospitals data breach was identified as an email phishing scam targeting employee email accounts.

Administrators officially learned of questionable activities involving employee email accounts in June, at which time the health care company says it began looking into the matter with a third-party investigative team. The investigators concluded that two employees, at different times, fell for the phishing scam. One employee email account was accessed without proper authorization on June 12 and during the week of July 1 through July 8; the second email account was accessed illegally for some three months, beginning on March 13 and continuing until June 12.

According to HealthITSecurity.com, the investigation could not rule out that data in those accounts was not compromised. The potential data breach could potentially have affected 68,069 patients.

The information the phishing schemers could have accessed includes full names, contact information including addresses and phone numbers, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account or credit card numbers, passport information, dates of birth, health insurance information, medical history and conditions, computer user names and passwords.

That said, there’s currently no evidence that any of the potential data has been misused to date, according to Methodist Hospitals’ announcement. Nevertheless, the incident has been fully reported to regulators at both the federal and state levels for further review. Additional security has also been added to reduce the risk that such a compromise will occur again.

Protecting Personal Information

In its announcement about the Methodist Hospitals’ data breach, the organization made a number of suggestions to protect personal information from being compromised, including closely monitoring credit accounts, for consumers that do not already do so. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC)  Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the three major credit reporting companies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, to provide U.S. consumers with a free copy of their credit report once every 12 months, upon request.

The notice also suggests that consumers implement a “security freeze” on their credit report. According to consumerfinance.org, a security freeze disallows access to your credit file, preventing thieves from opening a fraudulent line of credit in your name. It is based upon the notion that a creditor will not likely open a line of credit without seeing this credit file.

After Sept. 21, 2018, a new law passed which allows citizens to freeze and unfreeze their files without being charged. The freezing of a credit report doesn’t apply to tenant or employment screening companies.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.