Key Highlights
- When a healthcare data breach is first disclosed, the number of people affected is often far lower than the final tally.
- That figure frequently climbs as investigations continue.
- That's exactly what happened with Andover, Mass.-based Covenant Health.
- The Catholic healthcare provider has now confirmed that a cyberattack discovered last May may have affected nearly 500,000 patients, a sharp increase from the fewer than 8,000 people it initially reported earlier this year.
- A ransomware group later claimed responsibility for the incident, though Covenant Health has not publicly confirmed the use of ransomware.
