WOODSVILLE — A data breach at Cottage Hospital has exposed the personal information of more than 1,600 people in the Twin States.
On Feb. 6, Cottage Hospital started mailing letters to current and former employees whose personal information including names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers or bank account information was exposed in the October breach, according to a notice sent to impacted parties and filed with the offices of the attorneys general of New Hampshire and Vermont.
Employees who have been patients at Cottage Hospital may have also had their medical or health insurance information exposed.
“We take this matter very seriously,” the letter from Cottage Hospital says. “To help prevent a similar incident, we will continue to implement and evaluate enhanced safeguards and security measures to further protect our systems, and continue to provide security training to our employees.”
For one week in October, an “unauthorized party” accessed files on one server in Cottage Hospital’s computer network, according to the notice.
The hospital discovered the breach in December and immediately launched an investigation.
Impacted residents were notified of the breach via U.S. Mail. They will also have access to a one-year subscription to Experian IdentityWorks, a personal security program that helps to prevent identity theft.