Kaiser Permanente data breach affects 13.4 million

Editor's Note

A recent data breach at Kaiser Permanente could impact as many as 13.4 million people who are part of the healthcare conglomerate’s Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Fox Business reported the news April 29.

The breach was first reported in mid-April to HHS, which described it as an “unauthorized access/disclosure.” Although a Kaiser statement says the company was “not aware of any misuse of any member’s or patient’s personal information," it would still alert potentially affected current and former customers "out of an abundance of caution."  

According to a Kaiser statement quoted in the Fox report, “online technologies” on the company’s website and mobile applications may have transmitted personal information to Google, Microsoft Bing, and X (Twitter). These “online technologies” reportedly have been removed.  

Although usernames, passwords, Social Security numbers or payment information reportedly remained uncompromised, tech vendors may have received IP addresses, names, and more, Fox reports.