South Shore Hospital has informed around 800,000 individuals that their personal information may have been exposed. This includes the personal information of patients, employees, donors, and other partners affiliated with the institution.
South Shore Hospital which is located in South Weymouth, Massachusetts posted the data breach notification on its website earlier this week. The hospital is in the process of personally notifying the affected individuals via conventional mail. The data breach occurred in February when it sent outdated data files to a professional data management company to have them destroyed.
The files dated back to from 1996 up until January of this year. The personal information on the files contained driver’s license numbers, Social Security Numbers, medical records, and even banking details.
South Shore said it shipped the backup files to the then unnamed contractor but was informed months later that only a fraction of the boxes were received. This set in motion the necessary HIPPA reporting process, as South Shore informed the Massachusetts Attorney General, the Massachusetts Department of Health, and the US Department of Health and Human Services about the potential data breach.
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