CRESTVIEW — A cyberattack on two physician practices owned by North Okaloosa Medical Center has been "eradicated," according to parent company Community Health Systems.
Community Health is working with federal law enforcement authorities in their investigation and will support prosecution of those responsible for the attack, the company said in a statement.
The cyberattack, which possibly took place in April or June, took information on more than 4 million patients from Community Health Systems’ computer network, according to the company. Limited personal identification data belonging to some patients seen at North Okaloosa Physician Group and Gateway Medical Clinic during the past five years was compromised during the attack.
Transferred information excludes any medical or credit card information, but includes names, addresses, birthdates, telephone numbers and social security numbers.
“Right now, our clinics are the only ones that we know of that the patients are affected,” said Rachel Neighbors, NOMC's marketing director. “No one from the hospital side (had their data stolen).”
Neighbors said the clinics will notify all patients affected and offer them free identify theft protection.
“Anybody who’s affected, no matter what the scope, we’ll help them get all those things resolved,” Neighbors said.
Tomi Galin, Community Health Systems' senior vice president of marketing, confirmed that Santa Rosa Medical Center was one of the facilities targeted by the cyberattack, but did not clarify how many local patients were affected. Community Health Systems will notify those patients by letter and also offer them free identity theft protection, she said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Community Health Systems offering free identity theft protection following cyberattack