Software firm faces fine for medical record hack of 82,000 people
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has provisionally fined a Birmingham software firm £6.09m after it failed to protect the personal information of 82,946 people.
Advanced Computer Software Group (now trading as OneAdvanced) provides IT and software services to organisations on a national scale, including the NHS and other healthcare providers, and handles people’s personal information on behalf of these organisations as their data processor.
A ransomware incident in August 2022 saw hackers initially access a number of Advanced’s health and care systems through a customer account that did not have multi-factor authentication.
Personal information belonging to 82,946 people was withdrawn following the attack. There were also reports of disruption to critical services such as NHS 111, and other healthcare staff unable to access patient records.
Data exfiltrated included phone numbers and medical records, as well as details of how to gain entry to the homes of 890 people who were receiving care at home. People impacted have been notified, and Advanced found no evidence that any data was published on the dark web.
The ICO says it provisionally found “serious failings” in Advanced’s approach to information security prior to the event, especially for “an organisation trusted to handle a significant volume of sensitive and special category data”.
Currently, the fine has been imposed ‘provisionally’, with the ICO stressing that no conclusion should be drawn at this stage and it will consider any representations Advanced make before making a final decision, with the fine amount also subject to change.
John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, said: “This incident shows just how important it is to prioritise information security. Losing control of sensitive personal information will have been distressing for people who had no choice but to put their trust in health and care organisations.
“Not only was personal information compromised, but we have also seen reports that this incident caused disruption to some health services, disrupting their ability to deliver patient care. A sector already under pressure was put under further strain due to this incident.
“For an organisation trusted to handle a significant volume of sensitive and special category data, we have provisionally found serious failings in its approach to information security prior to this incident. Despite already installing measures on its corporate systems, our provisional finding is that Advanced failed to keep its healthcare systems secure. We expect all organisations to take fundamental steps to secure their systems, such as regularly checking for vulnerabilities, implementing multi-factor authentication and keeping systems up to date with the latest security patches.
“I am choosing to publicise this provisional decision today as it is my duty to ensure other organisations have information that can help them to secure their systems and avoid similar incidents in the future. I urge all organisations, especially those handling sensitive health data, to urgently secure external connections with multi-factor authentication.”
