DataBreaches.Net

Menu
  • About
  • Breach Notification Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Transparency Report
Menu

Pathways Professional Counseling notifies patients; SSN, financial, insurance, diagnosis and treatment info all on stolen laptop

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Dissent

A laptop stolen from a Pathways Professional Counseling employee’s vehicle in September contained unencrypted personal, clinical, financial, and insurance information.  Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries, d/b/a Pathways Professional Counseling (PPC) appears to be a hybrid entity under HIPAA.  PPC has numerous locations throughout Alabama and describes itself as a non-profit counseling ministry. Here is the bulk of their public notice, issued November 24:

Pathways Professional Counseling is notifying affected patients of a data security incident that may affect the security of their protected health information.  Pathways Professional Counseling and investigating authorities are unaware of any attempted or actual misuse of patients’ protected health information.  Pathways Professional Counseling is providing notification to ensure that patients are aware of the incident so that they may take steps to protect their information should they feel it is appropriate to do so. Pathways Professional Counseling is providing one free year of identity monitoring and identity restoration services to affected individuals.

On September 24, 2015, a Pathways Professional Counseling employee had his Pathways Professional Counseling-issued laptop stolen from his vehicle. The laptop was password protected at the time of the theft. The theft of the laptop was discovered on September 25, 2015, and immediately reported to local law enforcement. This notice has not been delayed at the request of law enforcement.  However, law enforcement is actively investigating this matter and Pathways Professional Counseling is cooperating in the ongoing criminal investigation. To date, there have been no arrests relating to the theft nor has the laptop been recovered.

Pathways Professional Counseling takes the security of information within its care very seriously.  The employee reported the theft to Pathways Professional Counseling on September 25, 2015, and Pathways Professional Counseling immediately launched an investigation to determine the precise contents of the laptop, at the time of the theft.  Pathways Professional Counseling also terminated the laptop’s network connection capabilities, changed the employee’s access credentials, and confirmed that our network systems were not accessed by the laptop since the employee’s last valid access the afternoon before the laptop was stolen.  To assist in our investigation, Pathways Professional Counseling engaged independent third-party forensics experts to confirm the nature and scope of this incident.

Information Affected

While the investigations into this data security event are ongoing, Pathways Professional Counseling determined the security of some personal and protected health information relating to certain service recipients of Pathways Professional Counseling has been affected.  The affected information includes an individual’s name combined with one or more of the following data elements: Social Security number, date of birth, address, treating physician name, diagnosis and clinical information, phone number, email address, demographic information, financial information, health insurance information, treatment information, and medication information.

Notification

Affected individuals for whom Pathways Professional Counseling has a valid postal address will be notified of this incident through U.S. mail.  Information contained in the notice letter will also be available at http://www.pathwaysprofessional.org/.  Pathways Professional Counseling is also disclosing this incident to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Identity Protection Services

As the investigations continue, and out of an abundance of caution, Pathways Professional Counseling is offering affected individuals access to a one-year membership to identity protection services, at no cost to the affected individuals.  Notification letters to affected individuals contain enrollment instructions for these services.

[…]

Toll-Free Hotline

To better assist those who may potentially have been affected by this data privacy event, Pathways Professional Counseling has established a confidential, toll-free hotline to answer questions.  The hotline is available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. C.S.T. at (855) 770-0003.  Please reference number 9538103015 when contacting the hotline.

****

Update Dec. 8: This incident was added to HHS’s public breach tool as impacting 986 patients.

No related posts.

Category: Health DataTheftU.S.

Post navigation

← Hungryhouse resets thousands of customers’ passwords
‘We complained to Santander CEO of data breach – and were sent documents of three other customers’ →

Now more than ever

"Stand with Ukraine:" above raised hands. The illustration is in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine's flag.

Search

Browse by Categories

Recent Posts

  • Russia Jailed Hacker Who Worked for Ukrainian Intelligence to Launch Cyberattacks on Critical Infrastructure
  • Kentfield Hospital victim of cyberattack by World Leaks, patient data involved
  • India’s Max Financial says hacker accessed customer data from its insurance unit
  • Brazil’s central bank service provider hacked, $140M stolen
  • Iranian and Pro-Regime Cyberattacks Against Americans (2011-Present)
  • Nigerian National Pleads Guilty to International Fraud Scheme that Defrauded Elderly U.S. Victims
  • Nova Scotia Power Data Breach Exposed Information of 280,000 Customers
  • No need to hack when it’s leaking: Brandt Kettwick Defense edition
  • SK Telecom to be fined for late data breach report, ordered to waive cancellation fees, criminal investigation into them launched
  • Louis Vuitton Korea suffers cyberattack as customer data leaked

No, You Can’t Buy a Post or an Interview

This site does not accept sponsored posts or link-back arrangements. Inquiries about either are ignored.

And despite what some trolls may try to claim: DataBreaches has never accepted even one dime to interview or report on anyone. Nor will DataBreaches ever pay anyone for data or to interview them.

Want to Get Our RSS Feed?

Grab it here:

https://databreaches.net/feed/

RSS Recent Posts on PogoWasRight.org

  • On July 7, Gemini AI will access your WhatsApp and more. Learn how to disable it on Android.
  • German court awards Facebook user €5,000 for data protection violations
  • Record-Breaking $1.55M CCPA Settlement Against Health Information Website Publisher
  • Ninth Circuit Reviews Website Tracking Class Actions and the Reach of California’s Privacy Law
  • US healthcare offshoring: Navigating patient data privacy laws and regulations
  • Data breach reveals Catwatchful ‘stalkerware’ is spying on thousands of phones
  • Google Trackers: What You Can Actually Escape And What You Can’t

Have a News Tip?

Email: Tips[at]DataBreaches.net

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Contact Me

Email: info[at]databreaches.net

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

DMCA Concern: dmca[at]databreaches.net
© 2009 – 2025 DataBreaches.net and DataBreaches LLC. All rights reserved.