UK-based medical technology firm, LivaNova, is warning its US customers that the identifiable personal information of some patients may have been compromised after the company’s systems were hacked.
The company’s US subsidiary, LivaNova USA, has learned that the unauthorised breach of the company’s servers may have resulted in hackers obtaining patient data including information such as name, contact information, Social Security number, date of birth, medical information, treatment, condition, diagnosis, prescription, physician, medical record number and device serial number and health insurance information.
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Originally having been discovered on 19 November of last year, the company says it immediately reached out to US law enforcement as well as cybersecurity firms to contain the breach, shutting down some services. LivaNova says that the hackers may have gained entry around 26 October of the same year.
Now, LivaNova is issuing formal notices to all affected patents and companies as it begins to arrange complimentary identity protection and credit protection services aimed at potentially reversing some of the damage.
LivaNova’s statement reads” We encourage affected patients in the U.S. to remain vigilant for incidents of fraud and identity theft by reviewing their account statements and monitoring their free credit reports. We also recommend remaining alert for unsolicited communications involving personal information.
“For U.S. patients who were affected by this issue, we have arranged to provide identity protection and credit monitoring services at no cost to them.”
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By GlobalDataThe rate at which healthcare facilities and services have been attacked by hackers or bad actors has increased year on year. Last year The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a report that found that in 2022 there were 210 ransomware attacks on healthcare facilities, with the overall rate of cyber-attacks in 2023 doubling from 2021.
LivaNova says that it is still working to uncover the scope and scale of the breach and that it is working with cybersecurity experts to fully contain the affected services.
Research by GlobalData found that global cybercrime will reach $10.5tn annually by 2025, further forecasting that cybersecurity revenues will reach $344bn worldwide by 2030. It also found that the rate at which patient records are breached is on the rise.
