Former employee probable source of breach impacting 80K
A Florida hospital is facing its third data breach in two years.
Aventura Hospital and Medical Center in Adventura, Fla., reported a breach that impacts 82,601 people spanning from Sept. 13, 2012 to June 9, 2014. This start date is one day after the last date of a previous breach that impacted 2,560 individuals.
According to Local10.com, a company called Valesco Ventures sent a letter to Aventura Hospital and Medical Center patients about the most recent case of identify theft. An employee may have improperly accessed the personal identifying information of Aventura patients, including names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. One patient told a Local 10 reporter that someone used her Social Security number to file a tax return.
On Sept. 27, 2013, 26-year-old Felicidy Butler, of Miami, was charged in a three-count indictment for her participation in an identity theft tax refund scheme resulting in more than $175,000 in disbursed tax refunds with an intended loss of over $440,000, the Justice Department said in a release.
According to the indictment, Butler fraudulently possessed at least 15 Social Security numbers of other people. The indictment also alleges Butler possessed the means of identification, specifically the names and dates of birth of two identity theft victims. The indictment charged Butler with unauthorized possession of personal identification information and aggravated identity theft.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.