The Lyon Firm is investigating a potential data theft incident on behalf of Capital Region Medical data breach victims in Missouri and nationwide. Our data privacy attorneys are actively involved in a wide variety of data theft cases, and offer free and confidential consultations. Contact us to seek justice and compensation.
Capital Region Medical Center, a hospital in Jefferson City, Missouri, has begun notifying patients potentially affected by a December cyberattack.
The Jefferson City hospital, an affiliate of Columbia-based University of Missouri Health Care, experienced a disruption to its network systems on Dec. 17.
An investigation following the data breach found that the potentially leaked files contained patient information, including names, dates of birth, addresses, medical information, health insurance information, driver’s license numbers, financial information and Social Security numbers.
Cyberattacks such as this targeting healthcare facilities often involve ransomware, and patient information and staff personal data may be compromised.
How Do Data Breaches Occur?
A data breach typically occurs in malware, phishing attacks or ransomware attacks when a hacker or cybercriminal gains access to sensitive personal information that has been collected and stored on a company’s servers. Hackers often target organizations with weak or outdated security practices.
Once the information is obtained, it can be sold to third parties to use in identity theft or other fraudulent data theft schemes. Victims of data breaches are at an increased risk of identity theft and financial losses.
If you have received a letter from Capital Region Medical about a recent data breach, contact a class action privacy attorney.
Class Action Data Breach Lawsuits
Data Theft Lawyers believe companies who collect and store personal data have an ethical and legal duty to protect it to prevent data theft. Creating a proper network security system is expensive, however, and many medical facilities attempt to bypass these necessary costs. If a hospital or medical facility fails to protect consumers’ and patients’ sensitive information, and a data breach occurs, they may be held liable.
The Lyon Firm encourages all potentially affected individuals in the Capital Region Medical security breach to act quickly and remain vigilant against potential medical identity theft and fraud by reviewing account statements, medical bills and credit reports. Contact a privacy attorney to review your Capital Region Medical data breach case.
Companies have a duty to engage in the following system security measures:
- Properly monitor data security systems for existing intrusions
- Ensure that vendors with access to computer systems and data employ reasonable security procedures
- Train employees in the proper handling of emails containing PII and PHI and maintain adequate email security practices
- Implement technical policies and procedures to allow electronic PHI access only to individuals or software programs granted access rights
- Implement procedures to review records of information system activity regularly, such as audit logs, access reports and security incident tracking reports
- Protect against reasonably anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of electronic PHI
The Lyon Firm is investigating the Capital Region Medical data breach and is actively involved in numerous medical malpractice and data privacy cases and has experience filing data security claims on behalf of plaintiffs nationwide.
Protect Yourself After the Capital Region Medical Data Breach
After your data is stolen, you may always be at risk for future identity theft and fraud. But, you can protect yourself with identity theft coverage and subscribing to an ID Theft Recovery service.
It’s important to stay alert and watch for signs of illegal activity that uses your accounts. If you happen to see unusual activity, take the appropriate actions described above to help protect yourself. If you want more information on what to do when a data breach impacts you, call The Lyon Firm or visit the FTC identity theft website.
Remember that you are not the only victim of a data breach. There are millions of Americans who suffer from data privacy events, many of whom seek legal action for compensation and to hold companies accountable for negligent security systems.
If you want more information on current healthcare data breach litigation and how to file a data theft class action lawsuit, contact The Lyon Firm for a free data breach case review.
Healthcare Security Breach
The rise of healthcare hacks have left millions of patients vulnerable to stolen medical records and identity theft. The vast majority of hospitals and health insurance companies have reported medical record data breaches, and although it is unknown what can be done with medical data, patient’s financial data and personal information can easily be used in nefarious ways.
With the rise of electronic medical data storage in place of old paper files, there are more and more instances of healthcare related security breach incidents and subsequent class action lawsuits.
Can I Join the Capital Region Medical Class Action?
An experienced class action attorney can determine if you are eligible to file a data breach lawsuit or join a class of plaintiffs. A lawyer can assist in determining the following:
- Did Capital Region Medical Center fail to adopt security safeguards that would have prevented a data breach?
- Did Capital Region Medical notify customers as soon as it learned of the data breach?
- Did Capital Region Medical provide a complete list of all individuals affected by the data breach?
- Did Capital Region provide security in line with industry standards?
