Froedtert Hospital Declares Computer Security Hack

Wisconsin, US-based Froedtert Hospital recently announced that it encountered one massive security hack following a PC-virus that infected the system of a staff member, published wisn.com dated February 14, 2013.

In a revelation, representatives of the Froedtert Health organization indicated that the infected system contained 43,000 patients' records consisting of names, birth dates, residential addresses, diagnoses, medical record nos., and within a few instances -Social Security Numbers.

Although no clue appeared suggesting the malware stole financial or medical data, yet according to forensic specialists after investigating the affected PC, the probability of unauthorized access of patient records couldn't certainly be dismissed.

The date was 14th December 2012 when officials identified the hack so there was a prompt call for the forensic specialists.

The hospital reportedly e-mailed notifications to each and every potentially affected patient during the 2nd-week of February 2013 owing to the virus' attack on patient records and it expressed sincere regrets for whatever anxiety the security breach might've resulted for them.

Meanwhile, for their health services, the affected patients visited the affiliates of Froedtert Health namely Milwaukee-based Froedtert Hospital; Menomonee Falls-situated Community Memorial Hospital; West Bend-located St. Joseph's Hospital; along with Froedtert Health Medical Group, the erstwhile Medical Associates of Menomonee Falls and the West Bend Clinic.

And though healthcare data hacks in the greater number occur from stolen or lost computers, authorities have said that hacks taking place due to PC-viruses are also immense. Ponenmon Institute a privacy institution, which conducted a study in December 2012, reported that merely 40% of organizations dealing with healthcare really scrutinized their PCs for viruses or other malicious programs when online, with just 21% showing that they performed such a scrutiny before getting online.

Moreover, in a similar breach, during 2011, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center informed approximately two thousand patients about certain data hack when a PC-virus was found sending patient records onto a remote machine.

Then during January 2012, San Francisco-based City College declared that a virus had contaminated its computer network which let the external transmission of students' personal data. A huge 100K students' information was likely hijacked during the infiltration.

» SPAMfighter News - 2/21/2013