Data Breach Lawsuit Claims Physicians to Women Failed to Protect Patient Info from Cybercriminals [UPDATE]

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A proposed class action claims negligence on the part of Physicians to Women, Inc. is to blame for an April 2023 data breach.

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The 40-page data breach lawsuit relays that the Virginia-based obstetrics and gynecology services provider detected suspicious activity on its network on April 4, 2023. Per the suit, a subsequent investigation determined that an unauthorized third party had gained access that day to the healthcare provider’s computer system and acquired certain files stored therein.

According to the January 2024 Physicians to Women notice letter, the compromised files contained personal information that belonged to current and former patients and/or their guarantors, including names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and certain medical data.

The case contends that the healthcare company failed to maintain basic cybersecurity protocols to protect the highly confidential information in its care, such as encrypting the data or deleting it when it was no longer needed. Physicians to Women could have prevented the incident had it implemented proper encryption practices, the complaint argues.

In light of the frequency of cyberattacks in the healthcare industry in recent years, the defendant should have understood the risks of a breach and taken commensurate measures to secure patients’ information, the filing charges.

As the lawsuit tells it, Physicians to Women’s allegedly negligent conduct is compounded by “repeated warnings and alerts” from cybersecurity experts and industry leaders to adequately protect sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure.

Data breach victims now face a lifelong risk of identity theft and fraud due to the confidential nature of their stolen data, “which they cannot change, and which cannot be made private again,” the case says.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone whose personal information was accessed and/or acquired by an unauthorized third party in the Physicians to Women data breach, including those who received notice of the incident.

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