Alaska Department of Health
Data Breach

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) has begun notifying residents about a May 2021 cyberattack that may have impacted certain Alaskans and exposed their protected health information (PHI). The Alaska Health Department said it delayed notifying individuals to avoid interfering with an ongoing criminal investigation.

The Alaska Health Department data breach potentially gave hackers access to the following:

• Names
• Social Security numbers (SSNs)
• Addresses
• Health information
• Financial information
• Internal identification numbers
• Birth dates
• Telephone numbers

As a result of the data breach, the Alaska Health Department’s background check system, State of Alaska Vital Records system, Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Management System (AKAIMS), other health services were taken offline.

This is the second data breach reported by the Alaskan DHHS in a three-year period. In January 2019, the health department notified 100,000 Alaskan residents that their data had been breached in June 2018.

The Lyon Firm is investigating the Alaska Health Department data breach and is actively involved in numerous data privacy cases and has experience filing data security claims on behalf of plaintiffs nationwide.