16 Hospitals Lose Data in Prospect Medical Holdings Breach
Table of Contents
- By Steven
- Published: Aug 31, 2023
- Last Updated: Sep 01, 2023
Prospect Medical Holdings is an umbrella company with over 16 separate hospitals throughout Pennsylvania, California, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The company manages a huge amount of information between all those different hospitals, and all that data could easily be misused if the wrong individuals accessed it. Prospect Medical Holdings was recently the victim of a data breach, though the company itself did not announce that information to the world.
How Did the Attack Occur?
This attack on Prospect Medical Holdings occurred on August 3, 2023, by the Rhysida ransomware gang. We know the gang was behind the attack because it announced that it was and explained what information was stolen overall. Bleeping Computer put up a story about the attack and the message posted by the gang after it occurred. The company isn't currently responding to any queries about the breach, but it appears that it is working to complete a full investigation and to increase security measures around the organization.
What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?
According to Rhysida, the ransomware gang that took responsibility for this data breach, approximately 500,000 Social Security numbers, patient records, and corporate documents were taken from the company. All this data is being held for misuse, and Rhysida is demanding a ransom payment to stop it from using the data for identity theft or reselling the information to other individuals who want to purchase it to do harm. According to the gang, a total of 1TB worth of documents and 1.3 TB of SQL database information was stolen from the company during the attack.
How Did Prospect Medical Admit to the Breach?
Prospect Medical Holdings has released bits and pieces of information about the data breach when asked questions by news outlets, but the company hasn't released an official notice yet and it hasn't sent letters to the individuals impacted yet. The breach is still very new, and it's likely that PMH will take more measures to notify everyone involved over the coming months. The only reason so many know about this data breach already is because the ransomware gang behind the attack released information about the attack on the internet, where it could be viewed by others.
What Will Become of the Stolen Information?
We don't know how the gang will use the stolen information, but it will likely resell it or launch cyber-attacks based on the data gathered. Many of the corporate documents could be sold to competitors and could do serious damage to Prospect Medical.
What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?
While you likely aren't sure whether your information was involved in this breach or not, when you get data explaining you lost information, you should take steps to protect yourself. Check your credit, invest in credit monitoring, and put a freeze on your credit. If you believe it's possible your data was stolen, you can start taking those measures now to be sure you're protected. The company will unlikely pay the gang to stop them from misusing the information, so it is up to you to safeguard your data.