San Diego healthcare services provider Sharp HealthCare is informing patients that some of their information was compromised in a recent data breach.
A not-for-profit healthcare provider, Sharp operates multiple hospitals and facilities in San Diego County, has 19,000 employees and works with roughly 2,700 affiliated physicians.
The incident took place on January 12, when an unauthorized party gained access to a server running the Sharp.com website, the company says in a data breach notice.
According to the healthcare services provider, the unauthorized access lasted for a few hours only, but, during this time, the attackers accessed a file containing patient data.
The compromised information, the company says, includes names, payment amounts, which Sharp facilities received the payments, and Sharp identification numbers and/or invoice numbers.
Payment card data, Social Security numbers, contact information, health insurance details, birth dates, clinical information, or details about received services were not accessed.
“Additionally, this incident did not involve unauthorized access to Sharp’s medical record systems or the FollowMyHealth patient portal,” the healthcare provider says.
According to the organization, the incident only impacted Sharp patients who used the online bill payment service to pay a bill or invoice between August 12, 2021, and January 12, 2023. According to The San Diego Union Tribune, roughly 63,000 individuals were impacted.
“We have no indication that anyone’s information has been misused. However, as a precaution, we are mailing notification letters to individuals whose information was involved in this incident,” Sharp says.
Stolen personal and medical information is often shared or traded on underground hacker forums and later used by cybercriminals in phishing and other types of cyberattacks.
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