American
dental
insurer,
MCNA
Dental,
has
suffered
a
ransomware-related
data
breach
that
has
exposed
the
data
of
more
than
8.9
million
patients.
In
a
notice
published
to
its
website
on
May
26,
MCNA
Dental
said
that
it
became
aware
of
malicious
actors
gaining
unauthorized
access
to
its
systems
on
March
6.
An
investigation
into
the
data
breach
revealed
that
malicious
actors
had
been
accessing
MCNA
Dental’s
network
since
February
26.
During
the
malware
attack
and
subsequent
data
breach,
a
total
of
8,923,662
patients
had
their
data
accessed.
The
data
stolen
by
the
hackers
included
contact
information
such
as
patient
names,
addresses,
dates
of
birth,
phone
numbers
and
email
addresses,
as
well
as
confidential
information
including
patient
social
security
numbers,
driver’s
license
numbers
and
Government-issued
ID
numbers.
The
malicious
actors
also
gained
access
to
medical
information
like
health
insurance
information
including
plan
information,
insurance
company,
member
number
and
Medicaid-Medicare
ID
numbers,
information
on
teeth
or
braces
care,
treatment,
bills
and
insurance
claims.
MCNA
said
that
it
has
taken
steps
to
prevent
a
similar
attack
happening
in
the
future.
The
insurance
company
has
contacted
law
enforcement
regarding
the
breach
and
has
offered
all
those
impacted
by
the
breach
a
free
identity
protection
service.
What
is
ransomware?
Ransomware
is
a
type
of
malicious
software
(also
known
as
malware)
that
infects
systems,
encrypting
the
data
on
them
and
extorting
the
owners
of
said
network
to
unencrypt
the
data.
Ransomware
can
be
spread
via
a
number
of
vectors,
including
poisoned
email
attachments,
USBs
and
phishing
links.
The
costs
of
ransomware
can
be
devastating.
In
2022,
the
average
cost
of
a
ransomware
attack
was
US$4.35
million.
This
is
only
predicted
to
increase,
with
the
global
damages
of
ransomware
forecasted
to
reach
$250bn
by
2031.
Learn
more
about
ransomware
and
other
kinds
of
malware
with
Cyber
Security
Hub’s
Ultimate
guide
to
malware.
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