CHICAGO — Medical laboratory operator Quest Diagnostics said it learned this week of a cyber breach of one of its systems, likely compromising some patient records.
In a regulatory filing released Thursday, Quest Diagnostics reported “unauthorized access” to its Quanum Lab Services Manager, a platform where certain customers can place test orders and receive or view their results. The company said it discovered the hack Wednesday and notified federal law enforcement.
We still do not know how many patients and which specific files were affected. Quest Diagnostics said it believed “some patient records” were accessed in this breach, but that the extent of this breach was still under investigation.
The New Jersey-based company said it is also working with external cybersecurity experts to help with its response.
Quest Diagnostics has previously seen hacks affecting patient records. In 2016, for example, the company said data, including lab results and contact information for about 34,000 people, was exposed in another online breach. And in 2019, other personal information belonging to approximately 11.9 million Quest patients was affected after a separate hack at American Medical Collection Agency, a bill collection services provider.
Cyberattacks are on the rise across all sectors. Beyond healthcare, other breaches have recently disrupted everything from supermarket chains to basic educational apps.
Governments and businesses around the world are working more widely on online security updates. The emergency erupted this week after the AI-assisted discovery of vulnerabilities in a programming language called PHP, which is vital to 70% of the world’s websites.
Outages and limited services have continued for many as businesses race to address these risks. But based on the company’s investigation, Quest Diagnostics confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that its cyber breach was not related to the PHP issue.
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