Wyoming’s Department of Health released a statement admitting to exposing personal health information belonging to more than a quarter of Wyoming’s population. The data breach occurred when files containing laboratory test results were allegedly mishandled by an employee. The security incident was announced on the department’s website and included a response plan to ensure customers are protected. The information could likely be leveraged by threat actors to conduct more attacks, such as phishing and business email compromise.
The information exposed in the files includes patients’ names, ID numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and dates of testing. The Wyoming Department of Health detected the breach on March 10, however, an investigation revealed that the patients’ files could have been exposed as early as November 5. The breach impacted 164,021 individuals, roughly 1 in every 4 people residing in the state. The department stressed that the data leak was an accident and stated that they were beginning the process of notifying impacted individuals.
Read More: Data Breach Impacts 1 in 4 Wyomingites