Fertility clinic reports ransomware attack
By TERRANCE KELLY
Click here for updates on this story
Atlanta, GA (WGCL) — An Atlanta fertility clinic says a ransomware attack struck its computer network.
According to a letter posted on Reproductive Biology Associates, LLC, and its affiliate My Egg Bank North America’s website, as many as 38,000 patients were impacted by the attack.
Reproductive Biology Associates says it became aware of a potential data incident on April 16, 2021. Workers discovered a file with embryology data was encrypted and inaccessible.
According to the statement, “We quickly determined that this was the result of a ransomware attack and shut down the affected server, thus terminating the actor’s access, within the same business day.”
The statement went on to say cybercriminals gained access to the computer system on April 10, 2021, and “subsequently to a server containing protected health information on April 10, 2021.”
In June, during the investigation, the company says it gained access to the encrypted files, and the company got a confirmation from the cyber thieves that “all exposed data was deleted and no longer” in the cybercriminal’s possession.
“In an abundance of caution, we conducted supplemental web searches for the potential presence of the exposed information, and at this time are not aware of any resultant exposure,” according to the company statement.
The company reported it conducted a thorough investigation and determined impacted personal information may include the following:
Full Name Address Social Security Number Laboratory Results Information relating to the handling of human tissue “We regret that this incident occurred and take the security of our information very seriously. As a result of this incident, we have initiated an investigation through a leading professional IT services firm to conduct interviews and analyze forensic data related to the incident.”
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
