Class action lawsuit filed against radiology group over cyberattack that impacted 600,000

Patients have filed a proposed class action lawsuit against a New York radiology group following a September cyberattack that impacted the information of nearly 606,000 individuals.

Rachael Kuecher alleges that East River Medical Imaging PC failed to encrypt sensitive data and implement standard security practices, Bloomberg Law reported Tuesday.

The HIPAA Journal previously reported on the incident earlier this month, noting that the compromised information varied from person to person. Leaked data reportedly included names, insurance info, exam types, referring physicians, imaging results, or Social Security numbers. The leak also involved employee data, the report noted.

ERMI responded by enhancing its network monitoring capabilities and continues to assess security controls, according to the report. It sent notifications to impacted parties in late November and is offering credit monitoring to those whose SSNs and driver’s license details were leaked.

The private practice, which was founded in 1970 and has four locations on the Upper East Side, Lenox Hill and Sutton Place areas of Manhattan, along with Westchester County, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

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Marty Stempniak

Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic. 

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