CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Northwestern Medicine is notifying cancer patients that their personal information may have been accessed during the hack of a company it does business with.
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare said there was a data breach of Elekta, a cloud-based platform that forwards legally-required cancer reporting to the State of Illinois. Northwestern said it’s possible those cancer patients’ Social Security numbers and medical records may have been accessed by someone who wasn’t authorized to have that information. Financial information was not accessed.
According to Northwestern Medicine, affected hospitals within the system include locations in McHenry and Huntley.
Elekta told Northwestern though it does not have any reason to think that information will be used or published. However, Northwestern is notifying affected patients by mail.
“We regret that this incident occurred and are committed to protecting the security and privacy of patient information. To help prevent something like this from happening again, we are re-evaluating our relationship with Elekta,” Northwestern Medicine said in the release.
Northwestern Medicine will be providing credit monitoring and identity theft protection for those who had their Social Security numbers accessed. The system is encouraging patients to closely monitor health insurance statements for any irregularities.
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