DataBreaches.Net

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

Children’s Mercy Hospital notifies parents after physician error exposes health information

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Dissent

Sometimes your policies are fine, but a well-meaning employee still manages to violate them. Consider this notification from Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri:

Kansas City, Mo. – May 19, 2017 – Children’s Mercy’s information security department recently discovered an unauthorized website that contained certain patient information. The information had been collected by one of the hospital’s physicians who was using the website in an effort to create an educational resource. Although the physician believed that all individual information contained in the website was password protected and inaccessible, unfortunately the website’s security controls did not meet the hospital’s standards and the information could have been accessed by unauthorized third parties. Promptly following discovery, Children’s Mercy took down the website. The website was not owned or authorized by Children’s Mercy or on the hospital’s network. Storing patient information on the website violated Children’s Mercy’s policies.

Although Children’s Mercy is not aware of any misuse of the patient information, the hospital is sending letters to the 5,511 affected patients. Information that was stored on the site varied by patient, but may have included name, medical record number, gender, birthdate/age, height/weight, dates of service and brief notes.

It is important to note that Social Security numbers, addresses, photos, telephone numbers, insurance information and credit card information were NOT included in this information.

Children’s Mercy has established a call center (1-855-836-1509) and an informational webpage (childrensmercy.org/May2017) to provide answers to affected families. Additionally, Children’s Mercy is offering free identity theft protection.

The hospital sincerely apologizes for this situation.

The text of the notification letter to parents can be found here (pdf).


Related:

  • Two more entities have folded after ransomware attacks
  • Data breach feared after cyberattack on AMEOS hospitals in Germany
  • Inquiry launched after identities of SAS soldiers leaked in fresh data breach
  • Michigan ‘ATM jackpotting’: Florida men allegedly forced machines to dispense $107K
  • Premier Health Partners issues a press release about a breach two years ago. Why was this needed now?
  • Government will 'robustly defend' compensation claims from Afghans put at risk by data breach
Category: ExposureHealth DataInsiderU.S.

Post navigation

← Trios Health fires employee over records breach, hundreds of patients affected
The Sanctuary Market Pwn3d By Cipher0007 →

1 thought on “Children’s Mercy Hospital notifies parents after physician error exposes health information”

  1. Anonymous says:
    May 31, 2017 at 12:06 pm

    While I do believe that this was an error by the well-meaning employee, I am a concern for the lack of security controls that allow this individual to exfiltrate sensitive data to host at this unsecured website.

Comments are closed.

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

  • Scattered Spider Hijacks VMware ESXi to Deploy Ransomware on Critical U.S. Infrastructure
  • Hacker group “Silent Crow” claims responsibility for cyberattack on Russia’s Aeroflot
  • AIIMS ORBO Portal Vulnerability Exposing Sensitive Organ Donor Data Discovered by Researcher
  • Two Data Breaches in Three Years: McKenzie Health
  • Scattered Spider is running a VMware ESXi hacking spree
  • BreachForums — the one that went offline in April — reappears with a new founder/owner
  • Fans React After NASCAR Confirms Ransomware Breach
  • Allianz Life says ‘majority’ of customers’ personal data stolen in cyberattack (1)
  • Infinite Services notifying employees and patients of limited ransomware attack
  • The safe place for women to talk wasn’t so safe: hackers leak 13,000 user photos and IDs from the Tea app

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

  • Congress tries to outlaw AI that jacks up prices based on what it knows about you
  • Microsoft’s controversial Recall feature is now blocked by Brave and AdGuard
  • Trump Administration Issues AI Action Plan and Series of AI Executive Orders
  • Indonesia asked to reassess data privacy terms in new U.S. trade deal
  • Meta Denies Tracking Menstrual Data in Flo Health Privacy Trial
  • Wikipedia seeks to shield contributors from UK law targeting online anonymity
  • British government reportedlu set to back down on secret iCloud backdoor after US pressure

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.