Kaiser Permanente Notifies Patients of Data Breach Caused by Malware

The Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. has begun notifying patients their personal and health information was compromised when its research server was infiltrated by malware.

The malware broke down the server's security barriers in October 2011 and Kaiser learned of the attack Feb. 12, 2014.

The server contained affected patients' first names, last names, dates of birth, ages, genders, addresses, ethnicities, medical record numbers and lab results. The patients whose information was on the server had participated in a research study.

According to the notification letter, Kaiser currently has no information leading it to believe any unauthorized person accessed the information on the server. "We have no indication that your information has been used for fraud or other criminal activity. We have found no evidence to date that the information on the server or connected to the server was ever actually opened, copied or used by any unauthorized persons," the letter said.

After discovering the data breach, Kaiser immediately took the server offline.   

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