United States – EmCare
Exploit: Employee email account breach
EmCare:Dallas-based healthcare provider that offers physician services and other healthcare functions
Risk to Small Business: 1.666 = Severe: An unauthorized third party accessed employee emails, allowing them to view sensitive personal information and confidential patient data. Through this vulnerability, hackers were able to access as many as 60,000 individual records, including 31,000 patient records. The company was quick to indicate that they don’t believe any personal data has or will be misused, and it’s unclear why this information was accessed. Nevertheless, EmCare will now bear the costs of providing free credit monitoring services and managing public relations.
Individual Risk: 2.149 = Severe: Employees and patients who received care from the company could have had their name, birth date, age, social security number, and driver’s license number exposed. In some cases, protected health information was also made vulnerable.
Customers Impacted: 60,000
How it Could Affect Your Customers’ Business: This episode is a reminder that even minor vulnerabilities can have extensive consequences. In this case, accessing just a few email accounts compromised thousands of patient records, creating serious problems for both the victims and the company. Since healthcare organizations are explicitly charged with protecting this information, they need to take every precaution to make sure that their systems are secure. By monitoring where and how hackers use patient and employee information on the Dark Web, providers can offer lasting protection.
Risk Levels:
1 - 1.5 = Extreme Risk
1.51 - 2.49 = Severe Risk
2.5 - 3 = Moderate Risk
*The risk score is calculated using a formula that considers a wide range of factors related to the assessed breach.
