1.2 Million Patients Lose Data to Tampa General Hospital Breach

  • By Steven
  • Published: Jul 25, 2023
  • Last Updated: Jul 26, 2023

Tampa General Hospital Breach

Tampa General Hospital is a mid-sized medical facility that caters to locals in the Tampa area. The hospital has 1,040 beds available and serves as a research and academic center, along with offering tertiary care to its patients. The facility is located in Tampa, Florida, and is an essential hospital for maintaining the care of patients throughout the area. The hospital was recently hacked, exposing more than 1.2 million patients that depend on the facility for medical services. 

How Did the Attack Occur?

On May 31, staff at Tampa General Hospital detected an intrusion in the network. After the hackers were detected, it was determined these attackers had been gathering information file transfers on the network for three weeks. All the data gathered could have been copied and backed up in a different location. Approximately 1.2 million patients are believed to be involved in this breach overall. With so many impacted patients, this is a widespread issue that could cause long-lasting damages and lead to serious credit, financial and personal problems for those involved. 

What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?

The specific data stolen from Tampa General per patient depends on the individual, but a substantial amount of personal and medical data was taken from most of the individuals involved. Information like first and last names, Social Security numbers, medical record numbers, dates of service, phone numbers, addresses, treatment information, and health insurance data could have been taken in this breach. 

How Did Tampa General Admit to the Breach?

Tampa General Hospital first reached out to the FBI to explain the situation and to attain help protecting its network and identifying the attackers. Now the hospital is also planning to send individual letters to everyone compromised in this breach. Along with individual letters explaining the situation, the hospital is also giving free credit monitoring and identity theft services to anyone whose Social Security number was taken in this breach. Tampa General hasn't released an official press release or story about the breach yet, but news outlets are getting the relevant details and putting out pieces of the story to local Tampa residents. 

What Will Become of the Stolen Information?

The data was stolen in an effort to collect a ransom from the hospital. Since the facility didn't pay the ransom money, it's likely the data will be resold to other attackers or used in attacks. Phishing attacks via email and text messages are likely, as well as some identity theft attacks resulting in damaged credit for some of the individuals involved. 

What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?

If you one of the patients who receive an individual letter from Tampa General Hospital about this data breach, your Social Security number was compromised, and you should immediately act to protect yourself. Claim the credit monitoring and identity theft protection services and use them to watch for any odd activity on your credit. If any strange changes occur, you can contact creditors and request to have your credit frozen temporarily for additional security.

About the Author
IDStrong Logo

Related Articles

Instagram Vulnerability Allowed Hackers Access to Control Your Phone

Security experts Check Point Research discovered a critical vulnerability while examining Instagra ... Read More

Alien Malware Infects More than 226 Mobile Apps and Steals Bank Data

As reported on September 24, 2020, by ZDNet and ThreatPost, a new strain of malware named “A ... Read More

Universal Health Systems Hit by Ransomware Attack

Universal Health Systems (UHS), a Fortune 500 company owning more than 400 hospitals across the co ... Read More

Exchange Server Bug Exposes a Big Risk to Hackers

Months after Microsoft released a patch to fix a serious flaw in MS Exchange Server, more than 61% ... Read More

Clients’ Bank Data Exposed in Blackbaud Ransomware Attack

Blackbaud software was victim to a ransomware attack last May, and new information suggests that c ... Read More

Latest Articles

What is a Time-based One-time Password (TOTP)?

What is a Time-based One-time Password (TOTP)?

Authentication is the process that verifies the user's identity to control access to resources, prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to the system, and record user activities (to hold them accountable for their activities).

Corporate Fraud: Detection, Prevention, and the Role of Corporate Fraud Attorneys

Corporate Fraud: Detection, Prevention, and the Role of Corporate Fraud Attorneys

The growing scale of organizations and the more opportunities to push the boundaries have led to an upsurge in corporate fraud in recent years.

Is Upwork Legit and How To Protect Yourself?

Is Upwork Legit and How To Protect Yourself?

Doing business online has become simpler with the development of the Internet and mobile technologies. In general, both freelancers and clients benefit from the freelancing platforms.

Featured Articles

How to Buy a House with Bad Credit

How to Buy a House with Bad Credit

Buying your own home is the American Dream, but it might seem out of reach to those with bad credit. However, the good news is, if your credit is less than perfect, you do still have options and in most cases, can still buy a home.

How Secure Is Your Password? Tips to Improve Your Password Security

How Secure Is Your Password? Tips to Improve Your Password Security

Any good IT article on computers and network security will address the importance of strong, secure passwords. However, the challenge of good passwords is that most people have a hard time remembering them, so they use simple or obvious ones that pose a security risk.

Top 10 Senior Scams and How to Prevent Them

Top 10 Senior Scams and How to Prevent Them

Senior scams are becoming a major epidemic for two reasons. First, seniors often have a lot of money in the bank from a life of working hard and saving.

Notice

By proceeding with this scan, you agree to let IDStrong run a Free Scan of supplied parameters of your personal information and provide free preliminary findings in compliance with our Terms of Use and Privacy Notice. You consent to us using your provided information to complete the Free Scan and compare it against our records and breach databases or sources to provide your Free preliminary findings report.

Rest assured: IDStrong will not share your information with third parties or store your information beyond what is required to perform your scan and share your results.

Free Identity Threat Scan
Instantly Check if Your Personal Information is Exposed
All fields below are required
Please enter first name
Please enter last name
Please enter a city
Please select a state
Please enter an age
Please enter an email address
Close