Wolverine Services Group (WSG), a company that provides services for healthcare providers and hospitals, was affected by a data breach.
Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids is one hospital impacted by the cyber security incident. WSG told the hospital that 4,755 Mary Free Bed patients were affected.
WSG posted a notice on their website about the security breach. The company said that on Sept. 25, 2018, they discovered "that an unauthorized party gained access to its computer system and infected the system with malware."
The malware encrypted WSG's records, making them inaccessible, as a way to get money from the company. This is often called "ransomware."
The company said that a team of forensic experts started the decryption process on Oct. 3, 2018. All the files needed to be carefully cleaned of any remaining malware. By Oct. 25, WSG's critical operations were up and running.
Through November, December, January and February, WSG was able to identity healthcare clients who were impacted by the data breach. The first notices were mailed at the end of 2018, more were mailed in February and the final notices will be sent in March.
"As a result of our investigation, WSG believes that the records were simply encrypted," the company said. "Nevertheless, given the nature of the affected files, some of which contained individual patient information, out of an abundance of caution, we mailed letters to all impacted individuals recommending that they take immediate steps to protect themselves from any potential misuse of their information."
WSG said some of the information vulnerable in the breach included names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, insurance information and medical information. The company said they arranged for everyone affected by the breach to have AllClear ID protect their identity.
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