Newport Beach, Calif.-based Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is notifying individuals of a cybersecurity incident that may have exposed personal and protected health information.
The hospital discovered suspicious activity on its network Oct. 8 and launched an investigation into the incident, according to a Nov. 4 notice filed with the California attorney general’s office.
The investigation found that certain files may have been accessed without authorization. Hoag subsequently engaged an independent team to review the potentially affected files and determine whether they contained sensitive information.
On Oct. 25, the review determined that some individuals’ personal or protected health information may have been included in the affected data.
The hospital said the information potentially involved included individuals’ names and other personal or health information. The publicly available notification letters do not specify the additional data elements, which appear as placeholders in the documents.
Following the discovery, Hoag said it took steps to secure its digital environment and implemented additional security measures intended to prevent similar incidents.
The hospital is offering affected individuals complimentary identity protection services.
The notification does not disclose how many individuals may have been affected or identify the cause of the suspicious network activity.
