Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems has reported a cyberattack affecting nearly 4.5 million people, according to an SEC regulatory filing issued by the health system.
Hackers allegedly accessed Community Health Systems' computer network and stole information of patients who were referred for or received services from CHS-affiliated physicians in the past five years, according to the filing.
CHS and its security contractor Mandiant said in the filing they believe the hacker group is located in China and intended to access "intellectual property, such as medical device and equipment development data" but instead accessed patient identification data. They believe the attack occurred in April and June.
Stolen data include names, addresses, birth dates, telephone numbers and Social Security numbers. No financial or clinical information was accessed, according to the filing.
CHS has eradicated the malware from its systems and implemented remediation efforts designed to protect the system against similar future breaches, according to the filing.
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