Michigan Medicine Notifies More Than 30K Patients Of Health Information Breach

ANN ARBOR , Mich. (CBS Detroit) – Michigan Medicine is notifying approximately 33,850 patients that employee email accounts have been compromised, exposing some of their health information.

The health system said between Aug. 15 and 22, a hacker targeted employees in an email phishing scam. A link was sent encouraging staff to access Michigan Drug Access information.

"Four Michigan Medicine employees entered login information and incorrectly received multi-step verification requests, allowing cyber attackers to access their Michigan Medicine email accounts," the press conference said.

Michigan Medicine learned the email accounts had been compromised on Aug. 23 and immediately canceled them.

The health system's investigation found no evidence that the attack was intended to obtain patient health information from compromised email accounts, but data theft cannot be ruled out.

A review of all hacked emails was completed on October 17 to determine whether sensitive information was leaked.

Patients affected by the accident will be notified by mail between October 19 and 26.

Some emails and attachments include patient-identifying information: name, address, date of birth, diagnostic and treatment information, and health insurance information.

No financial information such as credit card, debit card or bank account numbers were found in the email.

After the incident, Michigan Medicine updated its email system to include additional technical safeguards to prevent similar attacks in the future.

The health system said it will continue to educate and train staff to identify scam emails when they encounter them. Employees involved in this incident will be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with Michigan Medicine policies and procedures.

"Patient privacy is very important to us and we take this matter seriously. Michigan Medicine has taken immediate steps to investigate this matter and is taking additional security measures to reduce the risk to our patients and prevent this from happening again," said Jane Strickland. Medical Officer of Michigan. Compliance officer.

Patients who did not receive letters and are concerned about violations can call the Michigan Drug Helpline toll-free at 1-833-814-1736. Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 21:00.

Data Privacy in the Digital Age” – Panel 4