Kaiser Permanente says data breach may affect 13.4M customers
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 13: General views of Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on November 13, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Kaiser Permanente said it is notifying members after a recent data breach potentially affected millions of accounts.
The health care conglomerate recently disclosed a large data breach of its Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and reported the incident to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in mid-April. A page on the HHS website described the event as an "unauthorized access/disclosure."
The number of people potentially impacted by the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan breach totaled 13.4 million, according to the HHS.
The company said in a statement that while it was "not aware of any misuse of any member’s or patient’s personal information," it would still alert those individuals "out of an abundance of caution." They included both current and former customers.
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Kaiser Permanente said more than 12.5 million people were enrolled in its health plans at the end of 2023.
The notification and disclosure came after the company "determined that certain online technologies, previously installed on its website and mobile applications, may have transmitted personal information to third-party vendors Google, Microsoft Bing, and X (Twitter) when members and patients accessed its websites or mobile applications," Kaiser Permanente said. Its sites and apps no longer have that technology.
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The company said usernames, passwords, Social Security numbers or payment information remained uncompromised.
However, the tech vendors may have received IP addresses, names and certain other data such as "search terms used in the health encyclopedia," according to the company.
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Kaiser Permanente apologized and said it has taken steps to prevent it from happening again.
The company provides its health plans in eight states and Washington, D.C. It also operates 40 hospitals and hundreds of medical offices.
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