Lake Charles (La.) Memorial Health System said an October data breach affected 269,752 patients, the organization told the HHS Office of Civil Rights.
Lake Charles Memorial began notifying affected individuals in late December. The health system said Dec. 23 that it identified suspicious activity on its network Oct. 21 and later determined that an unauthorized party had accessed and taken patient files that day and the day before.
The breached data may have included names, addresses, dates of birth, health insurance information, payment information and, in limited cases, clinical data and Social Security numbers. Lake Charles said its EHR was not accessed.
Several news outlets reported that the Hive ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for the incident and that it posted stolen data on the dark web. Asked about those reports, a hospital spokesperson referred Becker's to the Dec. 23 statement on Lake Charles' website.