Heartland Alliance located in Chicago, IL, a social justice and human rights organization, reported on December 15, 2022, that it encountered a cyberattack. The organization discovered the security breach on January 26, 2022, and took quick action to protect its systems and stop continuing unauthorized access. A top-rated third-party cybersecurity company investigated the occurrence.
It was affirmed by Heartland Alliance on April 27, 2022 that an unauthorized person acquired access to its system and possibly accessed or acquired files that contain sensitive personal data. A long evaluation process was then started to find out the scope of the data breach and to acquire updated contact data for the impacted persons. That whole process was finished in December 2022.
Heartland Alliance has affirmed that the protected health information (PHI) of patients who got medical care or took part in other Heartland programs was likely exposed, together with the personal details of workers, directors, and indie contractors. The information involved differed from person to person and might have involved one or more of these data elements: names, birth dates, driver’s license numbers, bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, and health data. Heartland Alliance stated it isn’t aware of any attempted or actual misuse of the compromised information.
The organization issued notification letters to impacted people on December 15, 2022, and provided an identity and credit monitoring service for 12 months. Heartland Alliance has additionally confirmed that it has improved its IT security solutions to avoid identical security incidents later on.
CentraState Medical Center is Encountering Disruption Following the December Cyberattack
CentraState Medical Center based in Freehold, NJ is struggling with a cyberattack that happened on or about December 30, 2022. The medical center detected the cyberattack at the time of a change in shift at approximately 7 am when computer programs began to break down. As a safety measure, the medical center started full diversion, with ambulances instructed to substitute facilities whereas the reason for the IT system breakdown was looked into.
Tom Scott, who is the President and CEO of CentraState Medical Center, has affirmed that the interruption was because of a cyberattack that impacted selected IT systems. Systems were quickly separated to control the attack. An investigation into the attack was to find out the nature and extent of the breach. Workers recorded patient information using pen and paper while the IT systems are not working, and extra employees were brought in to take care of the increased workload.
CentraState Medical Center gave additional information on January 3, 2023, stating that the typical top quality of patient care is being observed, however, certain services at the medical center remain affected, which include mammography, outpatient radiology, radiation therapy, laboratories, and catheterization laboratory services. Appointed inpatient operations push through as usual, nevertheless, a number of outpatient visits were canceled or rebooked.
No schedule was given on when systems shall be completely restored, and no data was shared on the precise nature of the incident. It is furthermore uncertain at this early point of the investigation whether, and to what magnitude, patient data was affected.