Cyber Incident Victim: La Clinica de la Raza
Date:
Jan 2023
Location:
United States of America
Summary
La Clinica de La Raza experienced a data breach involving unauthorized access to several employee email accounts over a two-week period, compromising sensitive patient information. The exposed data included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial and payment card details, online credentials, medical treatment records, and health insurance information. The healthcare provider confirmed the incident after detecting suspicious email activity and initiating an internal investigation with forensic support. Notifications were subsequently sent to over 15,000 affected individuals whose confidential data was accessed during the security breach.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On February 8, 2023, La Clinica de La Raza detected suspicious activity within several employee email accounts, prompting immediate securing of the affected accounts. The organization initiated an internal investigation with assistance from a forensic security firm, which confirmed unauthorized access to multiple email accounts between January 24, 2023, and February 8, 2023. The investigation revealed that compromised email accounts contained confidential patient information, though the full scope required further review. La Clinica subsequently analyzed the affected files to identify specific data elements exposed and determine impacted individuals. This process confirmed that the breached information included patient names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial account details, payment card information, online credentials, medical treatment records, and health insurance information. The forensic review established that 15,316 individuals had their sensitive data accessed during the two-week intrusion period.
La Clinica filed a formal notice of the breach with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights on April 7, 2023, concurrently dispatching data breach notification letters to all affected patients. The compromised data exposed victims to potential identity theft, financial fraud, and illicit sale of personal information on dark web markets, consistent with risks associated with healthcare data breaches. As a community health provider operating 35 locations in California's East Bay region, the incident impacted a subset of La Clinica's annual patient base exceeding 90,000 individuals. The organization's response focused on containment through securing the email accounts, conducting forensic analysis, and fulfilling regulatory notification obligations, without disclosed remediation measures beyond these actions. No additional attacker methodologies, infrastructure details, or post-breach fraud incidents were documented in the available report.