Breach, Data Security

Insider breach affects about 2,400 UMass Memorial Medical patients

About 2,400 patients of University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center (UMMMC) are being notified that their personal information – including Social Security numbers – was accessed by a former employee and may have been used to open commercial accounts.

How many victims? About 2,400, according to reports

What type of personal information? Names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.

What happened? A former employee accessed the personal information of patients and the data may have been used to open commercial accounts.

What was the response? UMMMC opened an internal investigation that is ongoing with law enforcement. UMMMC is enhancing security and enforcing education of policies and procedures to protect patient information. All impacted patients are being notified. “The employee no longer works at UMMMC,” according to a notification posted on the UMMMC website.

Details: UMMMC learned of the incident on March 6. The employee had access to patient information between May 6, 2002, and March 4. The information could have been used to open credit card and cell phone accounts.

Quote: “We are not aware of the misuse of any medical information,” according to the notification.

Source: umass-memorial-hospital-main, “Important Privacy Incident Notice for UMass Memorial Medical Center Patients,” 2014.

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