COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Kootenai Health allegedly failed to protect the personally identifiable information and personal health information of patients, resulting in a large data breach that put patients at risk of fraud or identity theft, according to a proposed federal class action filed against the hospital.
In an April 19 complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Idaho resident Sonna Griffiths alleged that Kootenai Health didn’t comply with industry standards to protect information systems containing personal data.
Griffiths seeks orders requiring Kootenai Health to “fully and accurately disclose the nature of the information that has been compromised” and to adopt security practices to prevent such a security breach from happening again, according to court records.
The complaint stems from a data security incident that occurred Feb. 22, when “an unknown actor may have gained unauthorized access to certain data from the Kootenai Health network,” according to an Aug. 12 letter sent by the hospital to affected patients.
Kootenai Health reportedly became aware of “unusual activity that disrupted certain IT systems” March 2 and launched an investigation. A month later, Kootenai Health published a news release about the suspicious activity.
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