Dental and vision benefits administrator DentaQuest is notifying millions of people that their personal and dental health information might have been stolen in a data breach.
The incident was discovered on May 20, and DentaQuest’s investigation determined that the hackers had access to the organization’s network between May 17 and May 20.
During the timeframe, the attackers accessed information such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers, member identification numbers, Medicaid and Medicare numbers, benefits provider names, diagnosis, treatment details, and billing information.
DentaQuest is providing the affected individuals with 24 months of free credit monitoring, fraud consultation, and identity theft restoration services, the benefits administrator writes in an incident notice.
Based on filings with Attorney General’s Offices in Texas, Massachusetts, and South Carolina, DentaQuest is sending written notification letters to at least 4.5 million people.
According to the HIPAA Journal, more than 23.4 million individuals were potentially impacted by the data breach, and DentaQuest reportedly confirmed that at least 15 million were affected.
While the organization has not shared details on the threat actor behind the attack, the infamous extortion group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the incident and leaked roughly 234 GB of data allegedly stolen from the dental benefits administrator.
The leaked information, data breach notification website HaveIBeenPwned said in early June, also included email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and government-issued IDs.
A Sun Life subsidiary serving 35 million people in 50 states, DentaQuest is one of the largest administrators of dental benefits in the US.
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