Updated 11:02 AM CDT, Mon May 9, 2022
Published Under: IT Services Monthly Breach Deets
Smile Brands, a provider of support services for dental offices, experienced a data breach on April 23, 2021. The next day the provider indicated that unauthorized individuals had accessed their IT systems.
According to the HIPAA Journal, a total of 2,592,494 patients in California had been compromised. This cost Smile Brands a whopping total of $19,641,305 in operational downtime, legal action, loss of data and reputational damage, according to eRiskHub.
The data breach contained the following protected health information (PHI):
- Names
- Addresses
- Date of birth
- Telephone numbers
- Health information
- Social Security numbers
- Financial information
This data breach could have been prevented with the following tips.
- Scan emails for malware
- Add email protection software
- Maintain up-to-date security software
- Never click on unverified links
- Use a dedicated Wi-Fi network for your team that the public cannot access
Our team of IT experts at VGM Forbin can help protect your business. We can help assess your systems and make recommendations to help you stand strong against cyber-attacks. Contact us by calling us at (877) 659-5241 or complete the form to get a free consultation.
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