Gastroenterology Consultants
Data Breach

Gastroenterology Consultants, a healthcare entity out of Houston, Texas, has begun sending out data breach notices that detail a ransomware attack that occurred in January 2021. It is not clear why the company waited several months to alert patients of compromised personal data, and whether or not the data has been used in a fraudulent manner.

The Gastroenterology Consultants data breach allegedly resulted in the encryption of sensitive patient data, potentially placing at least 162,000 patients’ protected health information at risk.

Gastroenterology Consultants has stated in their notification letters that on January 10, 2021, an unauthorized user breached their network, though any evidence of data theft has yet to be discovered after an initial investigation.

The company has said they have taken new security measures following the ransomware attack to protect its network and restore all compromised data. A data breach notice was uploaded to the Gastroenterology Consultants website as early as March 2021 advising patients about the data breach but no notification letters were sent out until more recently.

At this time it is not possible to rule out unauthorized access or sale of patients’ personal health information, or other related data that may include social security numbers.