Dental services provider Dental Care Alliance (DCA) recently revealed a data breach that affected more than one million Americans, said Infosecurity Magazine. The incident was a result of a cyber attack starting in September 2020, and discovered and contained in October 2020.
The Sarasota-based facility revealed that patient data may have been compromised during the attack. The information involved includes names, diagnoses, treatment information, addresses, dentist names, and patient account numbers.
Compromised data also includes billing information, bank account numbers, and health insurance information. The unauthorized party only 10% of the victims have their bank account numbers accessed.
In an exchange with Databreaches.net, DCA general counsel Dave Quigley said that all relevant regulatory agencies have been notified by the organization. Moreover, a total of 1,004,304 patients, who comprise the number of affected individuals, were informed, as well.
No remediation services were offered by the organization. Regarding this, Quigley said, “We have seen no specific evidence personal information was used for malicious purposes.”
However, the DCA and Quigley said, “We will continue to do all that is necessary and appropriate to support and inform impacted individuals in the days ahead.”
Moreover, the HIPAA Journal reported that DCA said it acted immediately upon discovering the breach. To sought and prevent any further leaks and has implemented additional security measures to prevent breaches in the future.
The organization will also be evaluating the data and will provide additional information upon review, especially when new information comes to light.
DCA is an organization that offers dental support. It works with more than 320 affiliated dental facilities in 20 states with over 700 dental professionals.
The DCA is not the only dental services-related organization that suffered a cyber attack. Ten months prior, a Colorado IT company called Complete Technology Solutions (CTS) suffered a ransomware attack that affects over 100 practices across the country.
This incident left staff without access to patients' records and even treatment schedules. Practices across the country were affected including Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, and Nebraska, particularly the Pediatric Dental Specialists of Greater Nebraska.
Other healthcare facilities were also attacked by malicious parties including Legacy Community Health Services (LCHS) in Texas, affecting 3,076 patients, while Hillcrest Nursing Center in Illinois also suffered a breach.
The number of organizations and individuals being victimized by cyber attackers has increased over the past months in light of the pandemic.
