On April 17, 2018, Inogen, Inc. submitted a HIPAA Email Breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Based in Goleta, California, Inogen's email breach affected 29,528 individuals’ protected health information. Inogen is classified as a Healthcare Provider.
According to Inogen's statement:
On April 13, 2018, the Company also announced that it experienced a data security incident. Specifically, the Company indicated that messages within an employee email account were accessed by unknown persons outside the Company without authorization. Some of the messages and files attached thereto may have contained personal information belonging to Inogen rental customers. The Company, with the assistance of outside counsel, immediately took steps to secure customer information and hired a leading forensics firm to investigate the incident and to bolster its security. The forensics firm hired to investigate the incident determined that an unauthorized individual may have gained access to personal information belonging to some Inogen rental customers including their name, address, telephone number, email address, date of birth, date of death, Medicare identification number, insurance policy information, and/or type of medical equipment provided. The impacted data did not include payment card information or medical records. The unauthorized access of the potentially impacted email account appears to have occurred between January 2, 2018 and March 14, 2018. The Company is notifying approximately 30,000 current and former customers of this incident and will provide resources, including credit monitoring and an insurance reimbursement policy, to assist them. The Company is also notifying the applicable regulatory authorities. In addition, the Company determined that the unauthorized individual may have gained access to non-public financial information of the Company. The Company takes the security of information belonging to its customers very seriously and has taken steps to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future. Specifically, the Company has increased the security of Inogen systems by requiring all email users to change their passwords following the incident and sooner than they would have otherwise been required to. The Company has also implemented multi-factor authentication for remote email access and has taken additional steps to further limit access to its systems and other preventative measures, including but not limited to enhanced training and use of electronic tools. The Company has insurance coverage in place for certain potential liabilities and costs relating to the incident, but this insurance is limited in amount, subject to a deductible, and may not be adequate to protect against all costs arising from this incident.
HHS Wall of Shame
The HHS Wall of Shame is a website under the jurisdiction of HHS that lists all HIPAA breaches reported within the last 24 months. The Wall of Shame displays breaches that are currently under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights. As part of section 13402(e)(4) of the HITECH Act, the HHS Secretary must post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals.
HIPAA Breach Report
The Paubox HIPAA Breach Report analyzes breaches that affected 500 or more individuals as reported in the HHS Wall of Shame.
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