Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia suffers email data breach exposing patient health information

The hospital identified the first incident August 24, 2018, when an unauthorized user hacked into the hospital’s physician email account system a day earlier.

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

None are safe when it comes to hackers looking for private information to sell on the dark web. The latest victim of a data breach is the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This particular data breach is centered around the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia email systems

The hospital identified the first incident August 24, 2018, when an unauthorized user hacked into the hospital’s physician email account system a day earlier. The second incident was detected September 6, 2018, and it discovered an additional email account was compromised August 29, 2018.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) says they immediately started an investigation with a forensic’s firm. The results of the investigation showed the email accounts compromised did indeed contain patient health information. This information may have included patient names, dates of birth, along with “clinical information related to neonatal and/or fetal care provided at CHOP or, in some instances, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). CHOP says the incidents affected a “limited number” of mothers and their babies. They have confirmed that no financial data or social security information was compromised in this incident.

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
CHOP has confirmed that no financial data or social security information was compromised.

While CHOP is not aware of any actual or attempted misuse of patient information related to these incidents, on October 23, 2018, letters were mailed to patient families whose information was contained in these email accounts. Potentially affected patients are advised to carefully review the statements they receive from their healthcare providers. If they see services that were not received, they should contact their healthcare provider immediately.

CHOP takes this matter very seriously, and to help prevent future incidents is taking significant measures to provide enhanced levels of security for its email system.

CHOP has established a dedicated call center for patients with questions at 1-800-643-9180, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday. For those who have received neonatal and/or fetal care provided at CHOP or HUP, please visit the CHOP home page for more information.

CHOP values the privacy and confidentiality of its patients and deeply regrets any concern or inconvenience these incidents may cause patients and their families.


TOP