TruePill Data Breach Exposes 2.3 Million Patients, Class Action Begins

Digital startup PostMeds Inc., operating as TruePill, is an online pharmacy service based in California. The company allows patients to compare copay pricing, get status notifications on pill orders, and request refills. However, all this may change soon; at the end of October, TruePill endured a severe data breach, landing them in hot water with patients and courts.

How Did the Attack Occur? 

The PostMeds data breach Notice of Incident states the record exposures came from a bad actor; they accessed files used for pharmacy management and fulfillment needs. From the sounds of it, this attack could result from a system vulnerability or leveraged credentials. The Class Action suit against the company suggests further details not appearing in their official statements. According to the case filing, the exposures directly resulted from PostMeds’ failure to encrypt the data. However, this is an alleged statement, which investigators may prove after further review.

What Information Was Viewed or Stolen? 

The firm published the PostMeds consumer breach notice online, bringing the Class Action against the organization. Patients may expect a considerable amount of exposed data from the sample, but the exposures differ between individuals. The bad actors have stolen patient names, prescription information, medication types, demographics, and prescribing physicians. While mundane in most situations, this information can cause a destructive storm when misused; assailants could leverage it for ransom, use it to defraud the medical systems or utilize it for later impersonations.

How Did Postmeds Admit to the Breach? 

According to the Notice of Incident published by PostMeds, the attack timeline started around August 30th; the threat had continuous access to the systems throughout the following days. On or around August 31st, employees noticed the actor gained unauthorized access to the files. However, the timeline suggests they could not expel the threat until a day later. They immediately launched investigations upon the access discovery, which concluded sometime between early September and late October. On or around October 30th, PostMeds began sending impact notices and notifying impacted state attorney generals.

What Will Become of the Stolen Information?

Nothing is public about who launched the cyberattack or their motivations. As a result, it is challenging to predict what may happen with the stolen data. Whether the hackers meant the attack to impact patient data or network information is also unclear. In other words, the cyberattack may have had the goal of collecting a massive database of patient data, or their target could have been network permission signatures. Until investigations conclude, the motivations and abilities of the hackers remain uncertain. 

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

All patients who have used TruePill services may have information at risk following the breach. The Department of Health and Human Services lists an impact prediction in the millions—2,364,359 more precisely. PostMed patients must act immediately to protect themselves and their data from exploitation by bad actors. They should scrutinize financial and medical statements, verifying the source before taking action. Patients must also employ monitoring and fraudulent alerts to help mitigate credential misuse. TruePill’s data breach is severe, but patients can still protect their data by implementing defenses.