Oakland-based health care behemoth Kaiser Permanente has issued a cautionary alert to millions of its customers, highlighting a potential breach that may have exposed their personal information to major tech companies.
The disclosure, made by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc., raises concerns about the privacy and security of sensitive health-related data.
The data breach was officially reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on April 12.
The scope of the breach is staggering, affecting an estimated 13.4 million individuals, comprising both current and former members and patients who accessed Kaiser's online platforms. While Kaiser emphasized that the notifications are a precautionary measure, the sheer magnitude of the affected population underscores the severity of the incident.
Although the specifics of the data accessed by the tech companies remain unclear, Kaiser Permanente revealed that the breach potentially exposed patients' names, IP addresses, sign-in statuses, and browsing behaviors within the company's digital ecosystem. Furthermore, sensitive information such as search terms used in the health encyclopedia, which covers symptoms, drugs, injuries, and exercises, may have also been compromised.