On March 16, 2024, National Diagnostic Imaging (NDI) experienced a network disruption. Their investigation subsequently revealed that they had been the victim of unauthorized access between February 19, 2024, and March 27, 2024. According to a letter from one of their clients, they notified Birth Choice of San Marcos on August 19 of the scope of the breach affecting their patient data. On October 15, Birth Choice of San Marcos was provided with the results of the data breach review that identified who was affected, the type of information, and the contact information to notify the patients.
Letters will be sent out on October 22 to Birth Choice of San Marcos patients who were affected. A sample of the letter provided to the California Attorney General’s Office indicates that the type of information included client names, dates of birth, LMP (Last Menstrual Period), pertinent clinical information, and biometrics for the radiologist’s diagnoses.
The number of patients affected was not disclosed in the letter, and the incident has not yet shown up on HHS’s public breach tool (if there were more than 500 patients affected).
Were Any Other Clients Affected?
National Diagnostic Imaging is a US-based teleradiology company founded In 2003. It provides subspecialty radiology interpretation and reading services via teleradiology to hospitals, referring physicians, healthcare providers, and patients throughout the U.S.
There is no substitute notice on NDI’s website about any data security incident. While it seems somewhat unlikely that only one provider would be affected by an attack on NDI, it is possible. As examples: if an infostealer compromised a Birth Choice employee’s access credentials to NDI or an employee fell for a phishing attack that compromised access to NDI, it could be that the pregnancy care center was the only affected entity.
DataBreaches submitted an inquiry to NDI via their contact form. The inquiry asked whether Birth Control of San Marcos was their only client affected, and if not, how many other clients, or how many patients total, were affected by the incident. DataBreaches also inquired whether this incident involved any ransom or extortion demand and, if so, which group or threat actor had contacted them. No reply was immediately available.
This post will be updated if more information becomes available or a response is received, but Birth Choice of San Marcos is a non-profit that provides free medical care to women and men. It receives no federal or state funding and is funded by private donations. That revenue model does not seem to be a good target for any financially motivated threat actors.
As of publication, no group has claimed responsibility for either Birth Choice of San Marcos or NDI.