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We're on your side tonight on how to
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protect your data online.
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In May, all computer systems went down
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at St. Mary's Medical Center after a
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CBS 13 Sam Dost joins us now live from
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St. Mary's in Lewis. And Sam, we're
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learning patient data was in fact
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Well, according to a spokesperson with
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Covenant Health that there was a
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unauthorized third party that was able
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to obtain access to hospital patient
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data and experts say that hospitals are
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one of the most targeted businesses.
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across the country for cyber attacks.
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No one thought health data was valuable
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to an identity criminal. Well, in fact,
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it is. It's very valuable.
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The Identity Theft Resource Center
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provides free assistance to identity
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crime victims in the US. President James
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E. Lee says many victims come from hacks
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in healthcare because of how much
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personal data hospitals have. And he
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says they're historically weaker digital
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security systems. The bad guys look for
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those weak links and that's one of the
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reasons why we see the kind of attacks
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we have seen in healthcare.
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The Covenant Health Network has
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hospitals in Lewon, Bangor, as well as
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Nshawa, New Hampshire. Officials say
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addresses, birthdays, medical records,
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social security numbers, and health
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information for patients at each
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location may have been seen by a hacker.
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The breach happened on May 18th, but
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Covenant Health wasn't alert to it until
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the 26th, 8 days later.
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We sent them some follow-up questions,
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including why it took so long to notice
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the attack. They didn't specifically
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answer the question, but did say they
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immediately launched a recovery effort.
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But Lee says it's common for an attack
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to go unnoticed for weeks, months, or
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even more than a year.
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It takes even longer usually to find out
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how it happened. So we often times see a
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big delay between when a cyber attack
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results in a data breach and then when
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that data breach actually results in
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some kind of a notice to the people who
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There are a few ways you can protect
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your data if there's a cyber attack. Lee
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says you can freeze your credit, create
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unique passwords for every account you
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have and ask how the companies you work
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with keep your information secure.
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So it is important we get more
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comfortable asking people what do you do
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to keep us safe? And if you don't like
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the answer, take your business someplace
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In a statement sent to 13 News, a
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Covenant Health spokesperson said in
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part, quote, "Covenant Health takes the
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security of patient data seriously and
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regrets this incident. We have
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implemented additional administrative
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and technical safeguards to further
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secure our environment and help prevent
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something like this from happening
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again." End quote. It's unclear how many
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patients could have been impacted. That
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was another one of my follow-up
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questions, but Covenant Health says
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they're still investigating how many
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patients could have been impacted. There
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could be more than they already have
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uncovered, and they're working to get
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those answers. Now, if you are a patient
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here at St. Mary's or one of the other
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two hospitals, they are advising you to
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review your health insurance plan
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statements, and if you have any charges
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to services you did not receive, contact
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them immediately. Live in Lewon, Sam
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All right, Sam, thank you for the
