On or about December 10, AlphV (aka BlackCat) added DotHouse Health.org to their leak site, where they attempt to pressure victims into paying any ransom demands. In this case, the threat actors did not post any proof pack, but they claimed to have infiltrated 800 GB of data from the Massachusetts HIPAA-covered healthcare provider.
On January 27, DotHouse Health notified HHS that 10,000 patients were affected by an incident. They also posted a notice on their website.
According to their notice, DotHouse discovered suspicious activity on their network in late November. Investigation revealed that some patient data had been accessed “and likely downloaded by an unknown individual” between October 21, 2022, and November 27, 2022. The type of information varied by individual but may have included full name, address, date of birth, medical record number, diagnosis/conditions, medications, other treatment information, and claims data.
The discovery that protected health information had been accessed and probably exfiltrated occurred on or about January 12. Their notice of January 27 states that as of the date of the notice, DotHouse had not yet figured out who needed to be notified. They write, “Once this comprehensive review is complete, DotHouse will work to determine the identities and contact information for any potentially affected individuals and provide appropriate notification via written letter.”
This is yet another incident in which notification to individuals is not made within 60 calendar days of discovery as required by HIPAA. Luckily for their patients, a check of BlackCat’s leak site today reveals no data leak. But will BlackCat leak the data? And will DotHouse’s patients know of any leak of their data if they do?