STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – After hospital officials at Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) waited four months to tell patients of a security breach, the hospital’s chief executive has admitted that the hospital handled the situation poorly when relaying information to potential victims.
The breach occurred Dec. 29 when an unidentified suspect stole a desktop computer from one of the hospital’s billing offices. The computer contained personal information, including Social Security numbers, of 88,000 patients at the hospital.
SIUH President and CEO Anthony Ferreri said the hospital wanted to have a credit-monitoring service in place for potential victims before informing them of the breach. Searching for that monitoring service was an eight-to-nine week process. Eventually, SIUH officials determined Equifax was the best option for a credit-monitoring program.
Ferreri added that the hospital was also worried that if the information was released too soon, the suspect would realize he was in possession of valuable information.
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