Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over 2024 Kootenai Health Data Breach

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A proposed class action accuses Kootenai Health of failing to protect patients’ personal and medical information during a data breach reported in April 2024.

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The 44-page data breach lawsuit claims the incident was the result of lax cybersecurity practices on the part of Kootenai Health, a hospital system whose main campus is located in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. According to local reports, the defendant announced the data breach in early April 2024 after detecting unusual activity in its IT network the month prior.

Kootenai Health apparently has no evidence that the information stored in its IT network has been misused, reports note, adding that an investigation of the data breach is still ongoing.

As the suit tells it, the incident stemmed from the defendant’s failure to implement reasonable cybersecurity protocols and properly monitor its computer system for unauthorized intrusion.

“Data breaches have become entirely too common, and the reason is the lack of attention and resources that companies like [Kootenai Health] expend on protecting sensitive information,” the case charges.

The complaint also takes issue with the healthcare network’s allegedly “deficient” notice of the incident. Per the filing, Kootenai Health’s data breach announcement lacked “basic details” about the event, such as why sensitive information was purportedly stored without adequate security, whether the data was encrypted, what system vulnerabilities allowed unauthorized access and what is known about the degree to which the information has been disseminated.

“Kootenai Health has not nearly disclosed all the details of the Data Breach and its investigation,” the suit contends. “Without such disclosure, questions remain as to the full extent of the Data Breach, the actual data accessed and compromised, and what measures, if any, Kootenai Health has taken to secure the [personally identifiable information] and [personal health information] still in its possession.”

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States whose private information was compromised in the data breach disclosed by Kootenai Health in April 2024.

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