13 million members notified over online tech data leak at Kaiser Permanente

LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 13: General views of Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on November 13, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Kaiser Permanente has informed its members about a recent data breach that may have affected over 13 million accounts. The healthcare conglomerate reported the incident to the Department of Health and Human Services in mid-April, categorizing it as an “unauthorized access/disclosure.” According to HHS’s website, this event potentially impacted more than 13.4 million people.
Kaiser Permanente revealed that although there hasn’t been any evidence found indicating the misuse of members or patients’ personal data yet, they still need to inform these individuals due to abundant caution measures. The company also stated that it will notify both current and former customers as a result of this breach.
At the end of 2023, Kaiser Permanente had over 12.5 million people enrolled in its health plans alone. It operates medical centers across eight states and Washington D.C., with more than forty hospitals and hundreds of clinics under its belt as well.
Kaiser’s online technologies were the reason for this data breach, according to their announcement statement; these tech systems might have passed users’ personal information on to Google, Microsoft Bing, or X (Twitter) when they accessed Kaiser Permanente websites and mobile applications previously installed by them. The company has removed those programs from its sites as of now since the technology proved too hazardous in that manner for member protection.
The breach did not compromise usernames, passwords, Social Security numbers, or payments info – IP addresses together with users’ names & related personal details potentially reached third-party vendors like Google and Microsoft Bing during this time frame; searches undertaken within Kaiser’s medical database was one specific sort of information involved here.
Kaiser Permanente apologized for the breach and has taken steps to prevent such occurrences in future instances as well.