Cottage Health Systems Sued for Allegedly Posting 32K Patient Records Online
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Three Southern California hospitals are in hot water after patients claim the facilities released confidential records of 32,500 patients to the Internet.
According to a class action lawsuit, Cottage Health Systems hospitals in Santa Barbara, Goleta Valley and Santa Ynez Valley experienced a data breach from Oct. 8 through Dec. 2, 2013. During that time, four years of patients’ medical records were publicly posted online, according to Courthouse News.
Filed by Kenneth Rice, the suit claims that Insync, a tech company that created a system for the hospitals, did not encrypt the data or take other security measures. The records were allegedly online for nearly eight weeks until a man discovered the records online and contacted Cottage Health Systems.
The plaintiff seeks class certification, damages and statutory damages.
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