Los Angeles, California – A privacy breach at Kaiser Permanente has potentially affected about 13.4 million current and former members and patients, the health care provider disclosed. The breach involved the collection of data such as IP addresses, members’ names, and their activity on Kaiser’s website and apps. The organization is now reaching out to individuals who may have been impacted.
Officials at Kaiser Permanente stated that they were not aware of any misuse of the compromised information. However, the breach has raised concerns about the privacy of members and patients. Cybersecurity experts have noted that this incident is more of a privacy breach rather than a data breach, as personal information was shared with other organizations potentially.
Dr. Clifford Neuman, Director of USC Center for Computer Systems Security, highlighted that in a privacy breach, personal data is shared with third parties, such as Twitter, Google, and Microsoft. Kaiser Permanente emphasized that sensitive information like usernames, passwords, Social Security numbers, financial account details, and credit card numbers were not part of the data transmitted to these external parties.
In response to the breach, Kaiser Permanente conducted an internal investigation and removed the problematic code from its platforms. The organization issued an apology to affected members and reassured them that measures have been put in place to prevent similar incidents in the future. Despite the breach, Kaiser Permanente continues to prioritize the security and privacy of its members’ information.