Data breach exposes 4.9 million Tricare patients

[unhappycamper]

Data breach exposes 4.9 million Tricare patients
By Sig Christenson
[e-mail]
Updated 02:38 a.m., Thursday, September 29, 2011

One of the Pentagon's largest contractors said late Wednesday it had discovered a data breach affecting as many as 4.9 million patients who have received care from military facilities in San Antonio since 1992.

Science Applications International Corp. said the breach involved backup computer tapes from an electronic health care record. Some of the information included Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and private health information for patients in 10 states.

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The tapes held data on people living throughout Tricare's southern region, which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas with the exception of El Paso.

The data “include, but are not limited to names, Social Security numbers, addresses, diagnoses, treatment information, provider names, provider locations and other patient” information, the two-page statement said. Clinical notes, lab tests and prescription information also may be on the tapes.



unhappycamper comment: Way to Support Our Troops, guys.