Hundreds of thousands of patients were warned by GenRx Pharmacy, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based healthcare company, about a possible data leak after a ransomware attack earlier this year.
“The company said in a recent security alert: “The pharmacy detected signs of ransomware on its infrastructure on September 28, 2020 and promptly launched an investigation, including recruiting independent information security and technical specialists to help with incident response and forensic investigation.
“The pharmacy, together with forensic experts, terminated the access of cybercriminals to the pharmacy’s systems the same day… and confirmed that the ransomware was deployed by an unauthorised third party only one day before (September 27, 2020).”
Although the incident management team was swift to delete the unauthorised entry, GenRx said it later found out the malicious hackers were able to remove a “small number of files” that contained the pharmacy’s healthcare information used to manage and distribute prescription drugs to patients.
“According to the company, “certain former GenRx patients’ health records, including their first and last name, address, phone number, date of birth, gender, allergies, drug list, health plan details, and prescription information, are hacked and deleted by cybercriminals.
Breach alert
An entry on the HIPAA violation page of the US Department of Health and Human Services suggests that more than 137,000 GenRx patients are being informed about the incident.
However, less than five percent of its client base is currently affected, the firm added.
“While the pharmacy is not aware of any actual harm to individuals as a result of the situation, it provides first class mail information to potentially affected individuals about measures taken and what can be done to protect against potential harm.”
With concerns about the ransomware strain that was used in the attack, the Daily Swig reached out to GenRx Pharmacy. When more data comes to hand, this post will be revised.
