Healthcare Software Provider ESO Hit in Ransomware Attack, 2.7 Million Impacted
ESO Solutions, a leading provider of data and software for emergency responders and healthcare organizations, announced today that it suffered a ransomware attack impacting the sensitive data of up to 2.7 million individuals.
In an incident notice published on its website, the Austin, Texas-based company stated that an unauthorized third party deployed ransomware to encrypt information on ESO’s systems and may have obtained files containing personal data. The company is actively working with federal law enforcement in ongoing investigations into the attack.
While the ransomware group responsible remains unidentified, ESO’s statement suggests that compromised information may include individuals’ names, contact details, dates of birth, and medical data. The incident affected information from ESO’s emergency medical services, fire departments, and hospital clients across the U.S and Canada.
Regardless, the company notified the Maine Attorney General’s Office on December 19 that 2.7 million individuals were affected nationwide, with letters mailed out starting December 12. Over 9500 Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare patients were among those affected.
The data security incident involved unauthorized access to an ESO employee email account that contained protected health information. Upon discovery, ESO took immediate action to secure the email account and launched an in-depth investigation with the assistance of third-party cybersecurity experts. The investigation determined that an unauthorized individual accessed the employee’s email account between November 19, 2020 and November 30, 2020. During that time, the unauthorized individual could have accessed or acquired individuals’ names, dates of birth, medical record numbers, and limited treatment information.
ESO Solutions has secured the services of Kroll to provide identity monitoring at no cost to impacted individuals for <12/24> months. Kroll is a global leader in risk mitigation and response, and their team has extensive experience helping people who have sustained an unintentional exposure to confidential data.
ESO Solutions remains fully committed to maintaining the privacy and security of personal information. ESO Solutions has implemented additional security controls and monitoring to help prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
The company has taken its systems offline as a precaution and has not paid any ransom demands. ESO is in the process of notifying impacted individuals and organizations about the incident. The company has also set up a dedicated call center to answer questions at (866) 347-8525 .
About ESO Solutions:
ESO Solutions is a leading software and data provider for emergency responders and healthcare organizations across North America. Its integrated cloud-based platform offers solutions for electronic health records, billing, field data collection, and analytics to improve patient outcomes. ESO serves over 3,000 agencies and healthcare entities, including emergency medical services, fire departments, and hospitals.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, ESO has over 500 employees across the U.S and Canada. For more information, visit esosolutions.com.
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