On February 6, 2023, Sharp HealthCare, a large healthcare provider in San Diego, California, announced that it had experienced a data breach that affected nearly 63,000 patients. The breach exposed patient names, internal Sharp identification numbers, invoice numbers, payment amounts, and the names of the Sharp entities receiving payment.
Sharp said that it first detected the breach on January 12, 2023. The company's IT team took the potentially affected servers offline and engaged a forensic technology firm to investigate the breach. The investigation determined that a server had been infiltrated for "a few hours" on the date that the suspicious activity was noticed and that the hacker or hackers were able to gain access to a file with patient information in it.
Sharp said that it does not believe that any of the stolen information has been used for nefarious purposes. However, the company is offering free credit monitoring and identity theft protection to all affected patients.
This is not the first time that Sharp HealthCare has been affected by a data breach. In 2019, the company experienced a breach that exposed the personal information of more than 1.2 million patients.
Data breaches are a growing problem in the healthcare industry. In 2022, there were over 500 data breaches reported in the healthcare industry, affecting over 40 million patients.
How to protect healthcare organizations against data breaches
The healthcare industry is a prime target for hackers because it contains a wealth of sensitive personal information, including patient names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and medical histories. This information can be used for identity theft, fraud, and other crimes.
There are a number of things that healthcare organizations can do to protect themselves from data breaches. These include:
Implementing strong security measures, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and data encryption.
Training employees on security best practices.
Educating patients about the importance of protecting their personal information.
By taking these steps, healthcare organizations can help to protect the personal information of their patients and reduce the risk of data breaches.
What to do if you are affected by a data breach
If you are affected by a data breach, there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself:
Place a fraud alert on your credit report. This will make it more difficult for someone to open new accounts in your name.
Monitor your credit report for any unauthorized activity.
Review your bank statements and other financial accounts for any suspicious activity.
Report any unauthorized activity to your bank or credit card company immediately.
Consider enrolling in a credit monitoring service. This service will alert you to any changes to your credit report, so you can take action quickly if there is a problem.
By taking these steps, you can help to protect yourself from the financial and identity theft risks associated with data breaches.
