Quest Diagnostics suffers cyberattack exposing patient records in Quanum system
Quest Diagnostics just hit a cyberattack.
The short version
- The testing services company found unauthorized access on Wednesday.
- Hackers reached certain patient records in its system.
- Quest paused access to stop further damage.
- Core business operations are still up and running.
Check your systems if you use medical labs. Quest Diagnostics, the big medical testing company, just disclosed a cyberattack that hit its Quanum Lab Services Manager system. The breach happened on Wednesday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and involved unauthorized access to patient records.
Quest, which runs blood draws and lab tests across the country, said it immediately paused access to the system upon discovering the intrusion. While the company is still determining the full scope of the breach, it admitted that patient health information and patient identifiable information were exposed.
According to Yahoo, Quest insists its core business operations are not impacted and remain up and running. Federal law enforcement authorities have been notified, and external cybersecurity experts are assisting with the investigation. The medical testing industry has faced a wave of digital break-ins this year, with companies like Stryker, Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Abbott all disclosing similar attacks.
Some of those incidents shut down manufacturing and shipping entirely. For now, Quest says test orders and results lookup systems are being handled carefully while the digital lockdown holds.
