Planned Parenthood Los Angeles Reports Data Exfiltrated From 400,000 Patients In October – CBS Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Planned Parenthood Los Angeles announced Tuesday that a security breach had occurred by an unknown party in October 2021.

In a statement posted on its website, the PPLA said that from October 9-17, an unauthorized party gained access to its database and exfiltrated documents containing personal information from approximately 400,000 patients who had visited the facility.

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They stated that they have no evidence or reason to believe that the information was used for fraudulent purposes.

The Los Angeles division of the nonprofit discovered the suspicious activity on October 17, immediately took the systems offline, and alerted law enforcement agencies. They also contacted an outside cybersecurity company to resolve the situation.

The PPLA announced that, while the investigation was still ongoing, it was determined which files were exfiltrated, malware and ransomware installed, and which patient data were contained in the stolen files.

Among the information extracted from some of the documents:

• Patient names
• Dates of birth of the patient
• Patient addresses
• Health insurance identification numbers
• Clinical patient data (information about diagnosis, treatment, or prescription)

PPLA sends notices to each of the patients affected by the incident and encourages anyone who has visited their facilities in the past to refer to statements from healthcare providers / insurance companies to see if there are any unauthorized charges or treatments they are receiving have not received.

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In the statement, the organization regretted the incident:

“We take the protection of patient data very seriously and deeply regret that this incident occurred and that this could be cause for concern. In response to this incident, PPLA took steps to improve our existing security measures and protect the information entrusted to us, including improving our network monitoring, hiring an outside cybersecurity firm, and hiring additional cybersecurity resources and talent for our team.

They also urge anyone who thinks they may be affected or if they have any questions about the incident to contact their toll-free hotline at (866) 663-6283. Callers should provide the engagement number B021850.

Despite the Los Angeles violation, there is no evidence that other partners were affected by Planned Parenthood.

Located in 21 different locations across the city, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles strives to provide health services, education, and advocacy for reproductive health services to people.

Its mission statement is: “To provide convenient and affordable access to a comprehensive range of high quality reproductive health care and sexual health through patient services, education and advocacy.”

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Find out more about PPLA here.