A data breach reported by Science Applications International Corporation, a scientific, engineering and technology applications company, involved the personally identifiable and protected health information of approximately 4.9 million military patients, according to a news release (pdf) by the military health insurance company TRICARE.
Backup tapes from an electronic health record used in the military health system contained data for approximately 4.9 million patients who were treated at military treatment facilities in the San Antonio area or whose laboratory workups were processed in these facilities from 1992-Sept. 7, 2011. The information may include Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and some personal health data such as clinical notes, laboratory tests and prescriptions.
SAIC reported the breach on Sept. 14, but neither it nor TRICARE have specified the exact circumstances of the breach as they are conducting an ongoing investigation into the matter.
SAIC and TRICARE said the risk of harm to patients is low because retrieval of the data would require knowledge of and access to specific hardware and software and knowledge of the system and data structure.
Affected patients can monitor their credit and place a free fraud alert on their credit for 90 days through the Federal Trade Commission website. SAIC has also created an incident response call center.
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Backup tapes from an electronic health record used in the military health system contained data for approximately 4.9 million patients who were treated at military treatment facilities in the San Antonio area or whose laboratory workups were processed in these facilities from 1992-Sept. 7, 2011. The information may include Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and some personal health data such as clinical notes, laboratory tests and prescriptions.
SAIC reported the breach on Sept. 14, but neither it nor TRICARE have specified the exact circumstances of the breach as they are conducting an ongoing investigation into the matter.
SAIC and TRICARE said the risk of harm to patients is low because retrieval of the data would require knowledge of and access to specific hardware and software and knowledge of the system and data structure.
Affected patients can monitor their credit and place a free fraud alert on their credit for 90 days through the Federal Trade Commission website. SAIC has also created an incident response call center.
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