1,300 patient files hacked at University of Chicago Physicians Group
BY ART GOLAB Staff Reporter September 13, 2013 10:56PM
Updated: September 15, 2013 2:45AM
Someone hacked into more than 1,300 files of University of Chicago Physicians Group patients, according to news releases from the university and one of its collections contractors.
The files, which contained health information as well as names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and insurance data, were on a network belonging to ICS Collection Service, Inc, a Tinley Park collection agency contracted by the medical center.
ICS found out about the breach in July when it got a report that one of its website visitors hacked a page used by debtors to make payments and was able to view sensitive information belonging to up to 1,344 U. of C. patients.
“ICS is unaware of any attempted or actual misuse of the data stored in the database,” the company said in its release. But it will offer free credit monitoring and identity theft services to the affected debtors for a year.
ICSs said it has plugged the security leak and reported the breach to the FBI.
U. of C. said it no longer uses ICS and that the incident occurred after its contract with the company had ended.
Email: agolab.@suntimes.com
Twitter: @artgolab
