Community Health Systems released a statement Monday regarding the theft of personal information of 4.5 million patients system wide in their network of 206 hospitals across the country. The company operates in 28 states with the majority of their hospital locations in the states of Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.
Brownwood Regional Medical Center is one of the hospitals affected by the security breach.
Below is the statement issued Monday by Abilene Regional Medical Center and Brownwood Regional Medical Center regarding the issue:
Limited personal identification data belonging to some patients who were seen at physician practices and clinics affiliated with Community Health Systems, which include Abilene Regional Medical Center and Brownwood Regional Medical Center, over the past five years was transferred out of each organization in a criminal cyber-attack by a foreign-based intruder. The transferred information did not include any medical information or credit card information, but it did include names, addresses, birthdates, telephone numbers and social security numbers.
We take very seriously the security and confidentiality of private patient information and we sincerely regret any concern or inconvenience to patients. Though we have no reason to believe that this data would ever be used, all affected patients are being notified by letter and offered free identity theft protection.
Our organizations believe the intruder was a foreign-based group out of China that was likely looking for intellectual property. The intruder used highly sophisticated methods to bypass security systems. The intruder has been eradicated and applications have been deployed to protect against future attacks. We are working with federal law enforcement authorities in their investigation and will support prosecution of those responsible for this attack.
Many American companies and organizations have been victimized by foreign-based cyber intrusions. It is up to the Federal Government to create a national cyber defense that can prevent this type of criminal invasion from happening in the future.
