Wolfe Eye Clinic
Data Breach

Wolfe Eye Clinic, operating a large network of eye health clinics in Iowa, recently announced that a February 2021 ransomware attack that may have compromised the personal information of half a million individuals.

Wolfe Eye Clinic released a statement that says hackers accessed its IT systems and used ransomware to encrypt files containing sensitive information of patients. The eye clinic declined to pay the ransom, and recovered the files using a backup retrieval system. However, the hacked files were exfiltrated (stolen) from Wolfe Eye Clinic systems during the data breach incident.

In a notification letter sent months after the incident, Wolfe Eye Clinic said immediate action was taken to secure its network and third-party IT security investigators were hired to determine the full scope of the data breach. Not until May 28, 2021 did Wolfe Eye identify the information compromised in the ransomware attack. Hackers accessed the following information from 500,000 former and current Wolfe patients:

• Names
• Addresses
• Birth dates
• Social Security numbers
• Medical and health information

Wolfe Eye Clinic said in its letter to patients that is has implemented additional safeguards to prevent further data breach incidents. A company statement said “the protection and security of your personal information is our highest priority,” though recent events suggest network security may have been lacking leading up to the data breach.