Eyecare practices in California and Texas recently reported data security incidents.
On Jan. 6, West Oaks Eyecare in Houston began notifying patient of a cybersecurity incident.
According to a notice on the practice’s website, on Nov. 7 West Oaks “learned that an unauthorized third party accessed a computer system in our network and deployed malware that rendered files on the system inaccessible.”
“We took steps to secure our systems and reported the incident to law enforcement,” according to the notice. “We determined that the computer system contained some patient billing information, and are unable to rule out the possibility that those files may have been subject to unauthorized access or acquisition.”
Affected files were found to contain certain patients’ names and one or more of the following: address, date of birth, email address, phone number, patient ID number, Social Security number, optical scan images, exam results, insurance information, and billing information (such as dates of service, codes about diagnosis/treatment received and amount billed).
On Jan. 11, Databreaches.net reported that “the incident was reported to the Texas Attorney General’s Office as impacting 1,045 Texans, but no total number has been disclosed yet.”
And Drs. Keith and Herman Rundle of Rundle Eye Care, based in Orange, CA, notified patients of a data security event in a Jan. 11 letter.
The notice stated that the practice “detected and stopped a network security incident.”
An unauthorized third party temporarily gained access to our network environment. Although we have found no evidence that your information has been specifically misused as a result of the incident, an investigation revealed that the following categories of your information which may have been exposed: name, date of birth, and treatment information. We maintain this information consistent with our business practices in order to facilitate the treatment of our patients and correspond with patients’ primary care physicians.
The California Attorney General’s Office was informed of the incident.