462k Hawaiians and Patients Exposed by Health Network Cyberattack
Table of Contents
- By Steven
- Published: Feb 16, 2024
- Last Updated: Feb 19, 2024
Navvis & Company is a comprehensive healthcare network throughout the US, including Hawaii. They offer scalable healthcare services that push patients towards their health and wellness goals while supporting providers’ roles to achieve those milestones. In the middle of last year, mid-July, Navvis experienced a cyberattack; their experts responded, but not before the assailants got away with 462,861 records—and that’s just from Hawaii.
How Did the Attack Occur?
According to the consumer notice published by the Hawaii Attorney General, the attack involved an unauthorized party breaching their systems and accessing files. There are no other details about the attack or how the assailants made it happen. Consequently, the public is left to speculate about the days leading up to the event; the assailant could have used a vendor backdoor to get in or manipulated employees into revealing their credentials, or they could have dropped into the environment from a remote starting point, like an open device with network permissions already accepted. However, they did it—the public won’t know more until Navvis provides further information.
What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?
Hawaii’s consumer notice offers some information about the stolen data. Victims of the breach may have had multiple data elements compromised in this event, but the public won’t know specifics until they receive an individual impact notice. The public resources list names, birthdays, health plan information, and medical details, including account numbers, patient account data, case ID numbers, provider and doctor information, and health record details. Victims of this breach have an increased risk of identity and medical information misuse.
How Did Navvis & Company Admit to the Breach?
Navvis has published a statement about the event on their website. The release suggests that an unauthorized actor accessed the environment before or around July 12th, 2023, and remained in the network until around July 25th. On that day, officials discovered the unauthorized party and removed them from the network. That same day, officials confirmed that patient data had been among the accessed information. Navvis notifying the state attorney general’s offices means they are in the process or have begun to send impact notices to the public.
What Will Become of the Stolen Information?
The data compromised by this breach comes from patients who have used healthcare options that used Navvis, like the Hawai’i Medical Service Association and its members. Further, the impact figure is likely to increase because the current impact figure includes only Hawaii residents. The data taken in this event is highly sought after by cybercriminals because they can easily translate it into profits; they could sell all the data online for a lump sum or repurpose the information to launch even more attacks with associated credentials; they could even save it for misuse at a later date. Only one thing’s for sure—victims must act immediately to mitigate the consequences.
What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?
Impacted parties can begin responding to the threat by securing their accounts with new complex passwords, preferably from a password manager. They must ensure their passwords and usernames are unique to protect the integrity of other associated accounts. They’ll also need to consider account monitoring services that alert users to suspicious activity within their profiles—especially for those who do not directly review their accounts daily. Those with compromised medical information should also contact their providers and insurance agents; they should request itemized documents of their received statements and benefits. If there are any discrepancies, their provider must know immediately.
