Dozens more University of Missouri Health Care patients have joined a class-action lawsuit against the Columbia-based university over a recent data breach, ABC affiliate KMIZ reports.
Forty patients have signed onto the lawsuit, which was filed Aug. 6 over an email phishing attack that gave an unauthorized third-party individual access to email accounts of two MU Health Care employees. The email accounts breached comprised data from an estimated 14,400 patients, according to KMIZ.
Patient information that may have been affected by the incident included names, dates of birth, medical record numbers, health insurance information and limited treatment or clinical information. The Social Security numbers of a smaller number of patients also may have been affected.
MU Health Care hired a third-party forensic firm to investigate the security incident, which it discovered May 1. The investigation concluded that there was "no indication" that the affected information was accessed or misused, an MU Health Care spokesperson told KMIZ.
The patients who filed the lawsuit are seeking compensation for those affected by the breach and that MU Health Care is required to upgrade its security measures.