Personify Care data breach impacts more than 12k patients

A data breach has impacted a large number of public health patient in South Australia prompting the state government to reach out to the affected individuals. The breach occurred due to an "unintentional human error" in the patient portal managed by Personify Care. This error enabled an unauthorized entity to erase a folder storing patient documents on a digital platform.

The CEO of the Department of Health and Wellbeing, clarified that this folder contained health information of 121 patients undergoing "supervised medication protocols." These patients had uploaded visual confirmations of them taking their prescribed medications. Furthermore, the folder contained names and phone numbers of 12,624 patients, information which was initially gathered to invite these patients to utilize the system.

While the data was deleted, it wasn't lost due to backup copies' availability. Digital agencies' investigations have so far not found the information on the dark web.

Personify Care stated that they've ensured no other patient data was compromised and have instituted corrective measures to prevent such incidents in the future. The company managed to detect the breach and restore the deleted data within four hours of the incident.

Although the files were erased, Health Minister Chris Picton emphasized that there's no evidence suggesting the data was copied or downloaded. The incident is termed as "regrettable" but encouraged patients to keep using Personify Care, advising them to consult with their healthcare providers before discontinuing the service.