Wolfe Eye Clinic, a US eye clinic in the state of Iowa, may have had the records of around 500,000 patients stolen as part of a ransomware attack earlier this year.
The computer network of Wolfe Eye Clinic was hacked on Feb. 8 and its data encrypted. The hackers asked for a ransom in return for decrypting the clinic’s systems, but the company did not pay the hackers. Affected patients will be notified that their information may have been stolen, and they will be offered a year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services.
“We take our responsibility to protect personal information in our control very seriously and apologize for any concern or inconvenience this may cause,” said Luke Bland, chief financial officer at Wolfe Eye Clinic. “We continue to closely monitor the situation and are committed to notifying past and present patients about what happened and what they can do to protect their information.”
After the breach, a team of specialists was hired to investigate, and it was determined last month that patient records may have been exposed, according to Wolfe Eye Clinic’s Chief Financial Officer Luke Bland. Due to the complexity and scale of the attack, the full scope of impact was not fully realized until May 28.
“Unfortunately, these types of cyber incidents have become all-too-common for health care providers of all sizes nationwide,” Bland said.
In response to the breach, the corporation has set up a website and a phone center. Patients who are affected can get more information by calling 1-833-909-3906.
After this incident and at no cost to patients, Wolfe Clinic P.C. is offering IDX identity theft protection which helps protect identity with features like Credit Monitoring, Fraud Resolution Representatives, CyberScan, and up to $1,000,000 in insurance.
Wolfe Eye Clinic is headquartered in Marshalltown, Iowa, and has 40 locations across the state.
