The breach, which involved a "skilled criminal hacker," was discovered on Jan. 2 and exposed a range of patient personal information, according to a statement posted by Community Health Center. So far there is no indication the personal information has been misused, the clinic said.
"We believe we stopped the criminal hacker's access within hours, and that there is no current threat to our systems," Community Health Center officials wrote in their statement. "We've strengthened our security and added special software to watch for suspicious activity."
Patients are being contacted about the breach and can get more information about data-protection measures at https://response.idx.us/CommunityHealthCenter/.
All Community Health Center patients and those who received COVID vaccines from the organization are being offered free identity theft protection through IDX, a company that deals in online privacy protection.
The information of 1,060,936 people in multiple states was compromised by the breach, according to a posting by Maine Attorney General, which publishes notices of data breaches impacting state residents.
The Community Health Center breach had originated with a vendor and notices had been sent to all patients impacted, according to Elizabeth Benton, spokesperson for Connecticut Attorney General William Tong's office. Patients whose Social Security number or taxpayer ID was exposed are being offered 24 months of credit monitoring.
"We continue to recommend that individuals freeze their credit," Benton added.
Community Health Center, Inc., operates clinics in Bristol, Clinton, Danbury, Enfield, Greenwich, Groton, Hartford, Meriden, New Britain, New London, Norwalk, Old Saybrook, Stamford and Waterbury — in addition to multiple school-based clinics and mobile locations. Founded in 1972, the clinic network serves more than 145,000 patients, according to its website.
In 2021, Community Health Center received $16.2 million in COVID relief as part of federal American Rescue Plan Act pandemic relief funding.
Outside of Connecticut, 875 Maine residents were impacted by the recent data breach, along with 7,069 Massachusetts residents, according to that state's reporting site. Other states listed on Community Health Center's website with impacted residents include Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, Oregon and North Carolina.
The Community Health Center hack started on Oct. 14, 2024, and continued until its discovery on Jan. 2, according to the filing with the state of Maine.
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