Baystate Health Hit with Phishing Attack, Patient Records Vulnerable

Last week, five employees of Baystate Health, of Springfield, Mass., reportedly responded to phishing emails, giving hackers access to employee email accounts containing patient information. Patient names, birth dates, diagnoses, treatments, medical record numbers and health insurance identification of potentially 13,000 people were exposed. Baystate quickly took action to secure the compromised accounts, began an investigation and notified law enforcement of the attack, and created a training program to educate workers about phishing emails. A letter of notification for those who may have been affected was also sent. So far, Baystate is unsure whether or not any of the hacked data has been used for fraudulent activities, but claims it is “committed to protecting private information and is taking this matter very seriously.”