The San Antonio Institute for Women’s Health, which is said to be the city’s largest OB-GYN practice, is the latest healthcare organization to become a victim of a cyberattack. Both financial and personal health data were breached when the practice was infected with a keylogging malware. Keylogging malware is a malicious software capable of monitoring your keystrokes and then transferring that information to a remote server.

Cybercriminals had effectively installed malware on June 5th, but officials with the Institute for Women’s Health didn’t detect the intrusion on its network until July 6th. After its discovery, it took the IFWH until July 11th to remove the virus and an additional two days to confirm that servers and workstations were no longer effected.

The keylogging malware recorded and transmitted all data as it was entered into the system during the month it went undetected on the IFWH network. Hackers successfully stole names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses, billing codes, and other data. IFWH reported the breach to the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights.

This theft of personal information was taken further when the malware acquired the financial information of all patients who paid for their services with credit or debit cards. While officials state the breach was contained to information entered internally by keyboards, they have instructed patients to contact their credit card companies to secure their accounts as a precaution. The IFWH is also providing for all patients one year of identity theft protection and credit monitoring services for free.

While there were security measures in place before the data breach, there were additional safeguards implemented after the breach to increase data security on the IFWH web server infrastructure. Many organizations can benefit from partnering with an IT solutions company that can provide dedicated specialists 24/7/365 experienced in spotting and mitigating the latest cybersecurity threats. Don’t be the next victim of a healthcare cyberattack, contact Crossroads today.