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Memorial Hospital patients concerned after parent company hit by cyber attack [York Daily Record, Pa. :: ](York Daily Record (PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 20--Concerned patients have been calling Memorial Hospital after learning about a cyber attack that took information on more than 4 million patients of its parent company, a spokesman said Tuesday. Memorial will be establishing a hotline for those affected by the data breach, which involved physician practices associated with the Spring Garden Township hospital, spokesman Jason McSherry said. He declined to say which practices were affected or how many patients had called. Community Health Systems Inc., which owns Memorial and other hospitals around the U.S., said Monday that a cyber attack took information on patients from its computer network earlier this year. The data breach, which the company disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, included some patients seen at physician practices affiliated with Memorial Hospital over the past five years, McSherry said in an email. The breach didn't involve records of patients treated at Memorial, Tomi Galin, a spokeswoman for Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems said in an email. McSherry described the breach as involving "limited personal identification data." The information included names, Social Security numbers, addresses, telephone numbers and birth dates but didn't include medical information or credit card information, he said. Community Health Systems, which acquired Memorial Hospital in July 2012, said it believes the attack came from a group in China that used sophisticated malware and technology to get the information. The company has since removed the malware from its system and finalized "other remediation efforts" to prevent future attacks, it said in its SEC filing. The company is notifying patients affected by the attack and offering them identity theft protection services. It is also assisting federal law enforcement authorities' investigation of the matter, McSherry said. "We take very seriously the security and confidentiality of private patient information, and we sincerely regret any concern or inconvenience to patients," McSherry said in an email. "Though we have no reason to believe that this data would ever be used, all affected patients are being notified by letter and offered free identity theft protection." McSherry did not say when the hotline would be up and running. Community Health Systems owns, leases or operates 206 hospitals in 29 states, including 17 in Pennsylvania. –––– The Associated Press contributed to this report. ___ (c)2014 York Daily Record (York, Pa.) Visit York Daily Record (York, Pa.) at www.ydr.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |