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PHARMERICA LEAKS 5.8M DECEASED USERS' PII, HEALTH INFORMATION

Relatives are being alerted that a PharMerica compromise exposed the sensitive
data of their deceased loved ones, which could be used for identity theft.
Becky Bracken
Editor, Dark Reading
May 15, 2023
Source: Thomas Baker via Alamy Stock Photo
PDF


PharMerica Healthcare has disclosed that its systems were breached earlier this
year by an unauthorized third party, which resulted in the leak of the personal
details of more than 5.8 million deceased people.



PharMerica provides pharmacy services for patients under long-term care,
including those in senior living facilities, hospice care, and using behavior
health services.

A copy of a letter disclosing the data theft sent by PharMerica and addressed to
the "Administrator/Executor of the Estate of...," explained the cybersecurity
incident occurred from March 12-13, and exposed information including the
deceased person's name address, date of birth, Social Security number,
medications, and health insurance details.

PharMerica added that it has conducted a review of the incident and has "taken
steps to reduce the risk of this type of incident from occurring in the future,
including enhancing our technical security measures."



NextGen Healthcare similarly disclosed a data breach by a third party days
before PharMerica. In NextGen's case, an unauthorized actor accessed a database
with information on more than 1 million people.


SENIORS MOST AT RISK

"This is a devastating data breach both in terms of size and the severity of
what was leaked," Paul Bischoff, consumer privacy advocate at Comparitech, said
in a statement in reaction to the PharMerica disclosure.

"The Social Security and health insurance information pose the most immediate
threat," Bischoff added. "They could be used for identity theft and medical
benefits fraud, respectively."

Because the victims are passed, relatives aren't likely to regularly monitor
their credit reports, making any cybercrime related to the stolen data even more
difficult to detect and stop, Bischoff explained.

"That puts the onus of responsibility on relatives, who could be on the hook for
the deceased's debts," Bishoff added. "I suspect this attack disproportionately
affects the elderly as well, who are frequently targeted by fraud."



Chris Hauk, consumer privacy advocate at Pixel Privacy, also urged in a
statement those impacted by the PharMerica compromise to stay on alert for
accounts and lines of credit opened in a deceased person's name, as well as
phishing attempts using the stolen sensitive data.

"As senior citizens make up a large number of pharmaceutical customers, they and
their caretakers will also need to stay alert for phishing attempts," Hauk
added.

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