Kaiser Permanente Data Breach: Up to 13.4 Million Affected, User Info Shared with Google, Microsoft Bing, X (Twitter)

“In a recent data breach, Kaiser Permanente has revealed that up to 13.4 million individuals – both current and former members and patients- could be impacted due to an unauthorized access/disclosure incident reported to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in mid-April. While no misuse of personal information has been identified, Kaiser Permanente is sending notifications as a precautionary measure. The company’s statement came after it discovered that certain online technologies installed on its website and mobile applications had potentially transmitted user data to third-party vendors Google, Microsoft Bing, and X (Twitter) when individuals accessed their sites or apps. Kaiser Permanente has removed this technology from all platforms as a preventative measure against future breaches, though some details like IP addresses and search queries in its health encyclopedia may have been shared with the tech vendors during previous interactions. The company apologizes for any inconvenience caused but notes that username/password pairs and Social Security numbers remained unaffected throughout.”