Quest Diagnostics, one of America's largest diagnostic laboratory companies, said Thursday morning that a cybersecurity breach was believed to have allowed unauthorized access to patient records. A shareholder filing said Quest learned Wednesday of unauthorized access to a system that doctors and other health professionals use to request tests and review results. The number of affected people and the specific records involved were not immediately known.
Quest said the company had alerted federal law enforcement and was investigating and responding with help from outside cybersecurity experts. Quest said in the filing that the incident had not materially affected business operations or the company's ability to provide patient services. Quest did not respond to a request for comment.
Quest says the company serves one-third of adults in America annually. Quest also says the company serves half of U.S. physicians and hospitals each year. Quest operates about 2,000 patient locations across the country.
An unauthorized user accessed financial information, Social Security numbers and medical information in a 2019 breach affecting about 11.9 million Quest patients. That breach involved a third-party service provider handling billing collections. The provider said at the time that the unauthorized user had not accessed laboratory test results.
Quest disclosed in 2016 that an unauthorized user had accessed sensitive information through a patient portal for some 34,000 people. The information included names, birth dates and laboratory results, along with telephone numbers in some cases. That incident did not expose Social Security numbers or financial information.
The latest breach follows disclosures Wednesday of major cybersecurity vulnerabilities affecting other websites. One severe vulnerability, called php2shell, involved a programming language used by as much as 70% of websites. Cybersecurity officials in the United States and elsewhere advised websites unable to fix the vulnerability immediately to shut down temporarily. The cause of the Quest breach was not immediately known. Quest told the Associated Press that Wednesday's breach was unrelated to php2shell.
Quest Diagnostics Reports Cybersecurity Breach Exposing Patient Records
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Summary
Quest Diagnostics reported a cybersecurity breach that may have exposed patient records, affecting a system used by doctors to request tests and view results. The breach was uncovered Wednesday, and the company is working with external experts and federal authorities. Quest claims no major impact on operations or patient services. Meanwhile, liquidity and crypto markets remain under close watch for regulatory shifts. The incident adds to concerns about CFT (Countering the Financing of Terrorism) in data-sensitive sectors.
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