Community Health Center Data Breach Exposes Over 1 Million Individuals to Identity Theft Featured
Lawsuit alleges Community Health Center’s negligence in failing to adequately protect its network enabled a data breach that compromised identities of over one million individuals.
A class action lawsuit was recently filed against Community Health Center Inc., a non profit healthcare provider in Middletown, Connecticut alleging negligence in its failure to properly secure its network according Federal and Industry guidelines.
What Happened?
According to the information published on the Attorney General of Maine’s website, on January 2, 2025, Community Health Center Inc. noticed unusual activity on its computer network. Experts were brought in to assist in the investigation.
The investigation confirmed that a criminal hacker accessed its computer systems and exfiltrated data from its network. Community Health Center did not confirm whether a ransom demand was issued, but revealed that no data was deleted from its network and that breached files were not encrypted, therefore the incident had no impact on daily operations.
Community Health Center explained in the notification to the Maine Attorney General that “We believe we stopped the criminal hacker’s access within hours, and there is no current threat to our systems.” The Maine Attorney General breach notice, however, states that the breach first occurred on October 14, 2024.
What Information Was Stolen During the Breach?
According to the Breach Notice, the following information may have been accessed or taken –
- name
- date of birth
- address
- phone number
- diagnoses
- treatment details
- test results
- Social Security number
- health insurance information
Up to 1,060,936 individuals have been affected by the breach including pediatric patients and their parents and guardians. Some of the affected patients have deceased, and notifications are being sent to their next of kin.
What is Community Health Center Doing to Protect My Identity?
Community Health Center advises that it strengthened its network security and added special software to watch for suspicious activity. Community Health also announced that it is offering affected individuals 24 months of credit monitoring and identity theft protection.
What Can Hackers Do With My Information?
Stolen PII and PHI can be used to commit identity theft, open new credit accounts, make unauthorized purchases or obtain loans. Cybercriminals have recently targeted America’s essential industries and in so doing have forced millions of Americans to face the fallout from these attacks.
Leaked or stolen data can be sold on the dark web forums and may be used for fraud and medical identity theft, a type of fraud, where threat actors use stolen information to submit forged claims to insurers.
Clients affected by the breach are exposed to a heightened and imminent risk of fraud and identity theft. They must now and in the future closely monitor their financial accounts to guard against identity theft and fraud.
If you receive a notification letter from Community Health Center Inc., it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. A data breach lawyer can help you learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, as well as discuss your legal options at no cost to you. For more information, please review these recommendations.
Protect Your Identity. Join the Community Health Center Data Breach Class Action.
The lawsuit alleges that Community Health Center breached its duties under common law and the Federal Trade Commission Act to implement reasonable security measures, comply with industry standards and federal data-security regulations, encrypt sensitive data, and provide adequate and timely notice of the breach.
If you receive a notification letter from Community Health Center, you are at permanent risk of identity theft and the devastating financial and legal consequences that go along with it.
You may be eligible to participate in a class action lawsuit to recover compensation for loss of privacy, time spent dealing with the breach, out-of-pocket costs, and more.
The lawsuit looks to cover anyone in the USA whose private information was compromised by the breach announced by Community Health Center on January 2, 2025.
Please complete the form shown on this page and a data breach attorney will contact you. There is no cost to you.