Shields Health Care Group Hit with Class Action Over March 2022 Data Breach [UPDATE]

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Shields Health Care Group, Inc. faces a proposed class action lawsuit over a March 2022 data breach in which the personal and protected health information of roughly two million current and former patients was reportedly compromised.

According to the 22-page case, Shields Health Care Group, who provides management and imaging services on behalf of healthcare facilities in the New England region, has failed to implement adequate cybersecurity protocols and procedures. As a result, an unauthorized actor was able to gain access to the company’s systems between March 7 and March 21, 2022, the suit says.

The lawsuit states that current and former patients’ names; Social Security and medical record numbers; dates of birth; home addresses; provider, diagnosis, billing and insurance information; patient IDs; and other medical and treatment details were compromised in the breach.

The case claims that those whose information was exposed now face a “substantially increased and certainly impending risk” of identity theft as a result of the data breach and may need to take measures to mitigate that risk for the rest of their lives.

According to the suit, Shields first became aware of “suspicious activity” on its network in late March 2022 yet failed to send notice to data breach victims within 60 days as required by law. Per the case, Shields released around June 7 a data breach notice in which the company admitted that an unauthorized actor gained access to its system between March 7 and March 21 of this year.

The lawsuit further argues that Shields’ disclosures were not only delayed but “vague and evasive,” leaving victims with “incomplete information regarding the true nature and extent of the data breach.” Moreover, although Shields reportedly claimed there is no evidence to indicate that the breach was an attempt to commit fraud, the suit contends that “it would be naïve to believe the cybercriminals did not purposefully steal sensitive information with a specific intent to use it or sell it to others who will.”

The lawsuit says that consumers whose information was compromised have suffered emotional distress, not to mention an increased risk of identity theft and fraud, as a result of the breach.

The case looks to cover anyone in the U.S. whose personally identifiable and protected health information was compromised in the Shields Health Care Group data breach that occurred around March 7 to March 21, 2022.

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