Patient information obtained by hacker during September incident, Circles of Care says
Circles of Care, Brevard’s mental health care facility network, sent an alert Tuesday to clients that an investigation into a September incident revealed their system had been hacked, and that the hacker had potentially received personal and medical information.
The hacking incident occurred on or near Sept. 6, 2022, though Circles of Care’s system did not detect any suspicious activity until Sept. 21, they said in a statement. An investigation completed Nov. 29 showed the hacker, who was not identified, may have obtained patient information such as names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, bank routing and account numbers, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, service dates, diagnoses and medical procedure codes. They did not say how many patients were affected but added they were not aware of any reports of identity fraud or improper use of personal information as a “direct result of this incident,” the statement said.
The company was offering complimentary identity monitoring and protection services for people whose Social Security number was potentially impacted by the security breach, according to their statement.
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Circles of Care said in their statement that they would be putting additional cybersecurity safeguards in place as needed; improving cybersecurity policies, procedures and protocols; and boosting employees' cybersecurity training.
They did not provide specifics on these policies and procedures.
Circles of Care has facilities in Titusville, Rockledge and Melbourne. In November, at a press conference with the Florida surgeon general, Executive Vice President Stephen Lord announced they were ready to take patients as part of the state's CORE Opioid Recovery program, which was launched in August.
Patients with additional questions were asked to call Circles of Care’s helpline at 1-800-660-9657 or email information@circlesofcare.org.
Finch Walker is a breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Mental health patient info hacked in Circles of Care security breach
