Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health is facing a potential class-action lawsuit after it notified about 1.35 million patients that their protected health information was exposed during an October cyberattack.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 12 by Abigail Walecki, one of the patients whose information was affected. In the complaint, she alleged Broward failed to adequately protect patient data.
Personal information that may have been accessed during the incident includes name, date of birth, address, phone number, financial or bank account information, Social Security number, driver's license number, email address, insurance information and account number, and medical record number. The intruder also may have accessed patients' medical information concerning history, condition, treatment and diagnosis.
"Broward Health discovered the intrusion on Oct. 19 and promptly contained the incident, notified the FBI and the Department of Justice and engaged an independent cybersecurity firm to conduct an investigation," a health system spokesperson told Becker's Jan. 13. "Patient care was not disrupted or impacted at any time during or following this incident."
The spokesperson also said Broward has implemented enhanced security protocols to prevent future cyberthreats, including a required password reset for all employees and multifactor authentication for all users of its systems.
Note: This article was updated at 4:45 p.m. Central Standard Time Jan. 13 to include Broward Health's comments.