As seen on the group’s web site:
On January 10, 2017, Metropolitan Urology Group (MUG) was made aware that a ransomware attack that occurred on November 28, 2016 exposed certain patient health information to the hackers who infected two MUG servers with the ransomware virus.
MUG has been working with a premier, international information technology firm to remove the ransomware virus and is taking steps to ensure that such attacks never occur again. MUG has blocked all traffic from accessing the affected servers. It has installed the best firewall protection and secure email system. It is protecting all devices used by MUG employees, and updating its policies and procedures to reflect these technological changes. MUG is also conducting a risk analysis of its information technology system to detect any other vulnerabilities that may exist so it can quickly correct them. Both MUG and its information technology vendor, Digicorp, will be undergoing training on information security.
MUG values its patients and its reputation as a leading provider of urology services in Wisconsin and is offering all affected patients free credit monitoring for a year. It has also established a call center to answer questions from patients.
The information exposed relates to services provided to patients by MUG between 2003 and 2010 and includes:
- Patient first and last name
- Procedure codes
- Dates of Service
- Patient Account Number or Patient Control Number
- Provider Identification Number
Less than five patients also had the social security numbers exposed.
MUG is notifying all patients affected by the ransomware attack and offering resources to answer any questions or concerns patients may have about the situation.
To learn more about the breach, determine whether your information was exposed, and what resources might be available to protect your information, please call 1-844-856-0331 between 9 am and 9 pm, Monday through Friday, Eastern Standard Time.
The incident was reported to HHS as impacting 17,364 patients.