American Pharmaceutical The giant company Sencora has been affected by a data breach.
The company is notifying affected individuals that their personal and highly sensitive medical information was stolen during a cyberattack and data breach that occurred earlier this year.
This includes patients’ names, postal addresses, dates of birth as well as information about their health diagnoses and medications.
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Doctor in discussion (Senkora)
What happened: details of the incident
Cenkora has not yet described the nature of the cyber attack. However, a report claims that the attack began on February 21 and was not publicly disclosed until the company announced it. Notice filed with government regulators A week later on February 27th.
The pharmaceutical company, known as AmerisourceBergen, handles about 20% of the medications sold and distributed across the U.S. by 2023. It is unclear whether Cenacora has determined how many individuals have been affected by the breach. The company says it has so far identified and notified about half a million individuals affected by the data breach. However, Cenacora acknowledged that it lacks complete address information for some of the affected people, so it published a notice on its website to reach them.
The cyberattack came shortly after another attack on pharmaceutical giant Cenkora. The attack that disrupted Ascension’s hospital networkHowever, a Sencora spokesperson says there is “no connection” between their incident and attacks on other healthcare providers.
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Why should you worry about the Cenkora data breach?
Cenkora is a major player in the US Health care Industry giant. The $250 billion firm partners with some of the largest pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Genentech, Bayer, Regeneron and Bristol Myers Squibb. The breach has affected at least 23 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, indicating a broader impact than initially reported.
If you provided your data to any of these companies, it is possible that the breach has exposed it on the web. Number of individuals affected by Sencora Data Breach It is expected to be much higher. Cencora states on its website that it has served at least 18 million patients to date, and it is possible that all of these patients’ data was exposed in this breach.
A data breach may not cause immediate damage, but chances are your data is already in the hands of scammers on the dark web. They can use this data to defraud, blackmail and harass you. Since a data breach also leaks your address, scammers may try to dupe you via mail by asking for personal information or pretending to be a government official.
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Aftermath and response
Cencora completed its investigation into this breach on April 10, 2024. As part of its response, Cencora is providing 24 months of credit monitoring and remediation services to individuals whose information was involved in this incident. There are also indications that a ransom may have been paid to prevent the leaked patient data from becoming public.
This is also a class action lawsuit A complaint has been filed against Sencora, alleging that the company failed to properly safeguard patient data and delayed notifying affected individuals for nearly three months after discovering the breach.
We reached out to Cenkora for comment on this article but did not receive a response before deadline.
7 proactive steps to combat healthcare cyber attacks
If you think you have been affected by the Cencora data breach, follow these steps to protect yourself and your personal data.
1. Stay informed: Keep getting the latest news from Sencora and other trusted sources to know the status of systems and services.
2. Track your accounts and transactions: You should regularly check your online accounts and transactions for any suspicious or unauthorized activity. If you notice anything unusual, report it to the service provider or authorities as soon as possible. You should also review your credit report and score to see if there is any suspicious activity. Identity theft or fraud.
3. Use identity theft protection: Identity theft protection companies can monitor personal information such as your home name, Social Security number, phone number and email address and alert you if it is being used to open an account. They can also help you freeze your bank and credit card accounts to prevent further unauthorized use by criminals. Check out my tips and best suggestions for protecting yourself from identity theft.
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4. Change your password: Although Sencora says your personal details such as phone number and email address have not been leaked, you are still advised to change your password. Password Manager For generating and storing complex passwords.
5. Be alert to phishing: Be extra cautious Phishing AttemptsCyber attacks often lead to an increase in the number of phishing emails and calls that try to take advantage of the situation. The best way to protect yourself from clicking on malicious links is to install strong antivirus protection on all your devices. This can also alert you to any phishing emails or ransomware scams. Get my picks for the best antivirus protection winners of 2024 for your Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices,
6. Be careful with mailbox communications: Bad guys can also try to scam you via snail mail. Data breaches give them access to your address. They can impersonate people or brands you know and use themes that require immediate attention, such as missed deliveries, account suspensions, and security alerts.
7. Invest in data removal services: While no service promises to remove all of your data from the Internet, a removal service is great to have if you want to monitor and automate the process of removing your information from hundreds of sites continuously over a long period of time. Check out my top picks for data removal services here.
Kurt’s main points
The recent cyber attacks on Cenkora and healthcare institutions show that their infrastructure has serious flaws. Criminals should not exploit these systems so easily, especially when they contain critical information about patients. However, you can be cautious on your end. Data breaches cannot be reversed, but you can protect yourself from harm by being cautious. Do not share your personal information with anyone, and avoid clicking on links you do not trust.
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