A former developer at HealthNow Networks — a shuttered healthcare telemarketing company in Boca Raton, Fla. — uploaded an unencrypted backup database to a virtual server on Amazon Web Services, exposing 918,000 healthcare consumers' records, according to ZDNet.
The online database, which was first reported on March 25 by a Twitter user named "Flash Gordon," contained names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and health insurance information, along with other personal and health data from the almost 1 million consumers. The majority of the records included consumers with large insurers like Aetna, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
An investigation by ZDNet and databreaches.net concluded telemarketers at HealthNow Networks used this information to market medical products. HealthNow Networks, which sold medical supplies and equipment to older diabetes patients, is no longer listed as a registered business. The company ceased operations in 2015 after it failed to file an annual report with the state, according to ZDNet.
The data has since been secured and the online database was deleted, according to ZDNet.