Saint Joseph’s Healthcare System in New Jersey suffered data breach when it was attacked by phishing scam. According to the statement, more than 5,000 employees at some of its facilities may have affected by identity theft.
According to St. Joseph’s Vice President of External Affairs Kenneth Morris Jr., facilities in Paterson, Wayne and Cedar Grove locations were affected. Patient data and medical information are safe, but employees’ names, social-security numbers and employee earnings for 2015 and 2016 were potentially accessed. However, dates of birth, home addresses, and banking information were not affected.
According to the Morris, there was no indication that the phishing scam was an internal crime. Attack came from external source. He added that the scam included a named company executive using an internal email.
“There was no intrusion or breach of our internal IT system,” he explained. “None of that data was compromised.”
HealthCare system mentioned that affected employees will be receiving free credit monitoring. Local and federal authorities were notified along with system’s insurance carrier.
“Our primary focus is really protecting our employees and their credit health,”he said. “In addition, w
Phishing Scam and Data Breach
e’re putting the proper protocols in place so that this doesn’t happen again.”
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