On October 24, the Fredericksburg Foot & Ankle Center (FFAC) in Virginia began mailing breach notification letters to almost 15,000 patients affected by a cyberattack. The letter’s “What Happened?” section simply stated, “As a result of a recent data security incident, an unauthorized person accessed our computer systems.” It did not mention ransomware or any extortion demand.
Later in the letter, recipients would read that the incident was on April 21. Was the delay due to files being encrypted? They do not explain, but their external counsel informed the Maine Attorney General’s Office that the breach was discovered on September 5. But it wasn’t first discovered on September 5. That’s just when they claim they discovered protected health information was involved. The breach should have been considered “discovered” on or about June 7 when LockBit3.0 added the medical practice to its leak site (if it hadn’t already been discovered by FFAC).
Curiously, LockBit3.0 never leaked the data despite a June deadline payment they had set. Yet less than one day after FFAC posted a notice on their website and submitted their report to Maine, LockBit3.0 updated their listing and leaked what they claim is 1.6 TB of files with a companion file tree. Inspection of the filenames in the tree suggests that many of the files were older files from approximately 2003 to 2012. According to FFAC’s notice on its website, patient data involved in the breach included “full names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license/state identification numbers, clinical information, and health insurance information. The elements of personal information involved varied per individual.”
FFAC’s report to HHS has not yet appeared on its public breach tool. It’s possible, therefore, that the number of patients affected may be less than the number of individuals reported to Maine. But it is important to remember that because the leak occurred after the notifications went out, patients likely do not know if their data has been leaked.
Updated November 9: The October 25 report to HHS indicated that 14,912 patients were affected.