Colorado Ophthalmology Associates recently experienced a cyberattack that resulted in the encryption and loss of electronic medical record files.
The ophthalmology group discovered the incident on Nov. 14 and launched an investigation, according to a notice on the practice's website. The investigation found that the organization's computer network was affected by the attack and resulted in the encryption and loss of electronic medical record files for patient visits or exams conducted between April 10 and Nov. 14 of last year. The unauthorized access took place between Oct. 4 and Nov. 14.
The practice, which has offices in Denver and Lakewood, said there is no indication that patients’ protected health information was exported or viewed by any unauthorized individual. COA also said it is mailing letters to all patients involved.
A notice of the cyberattack submitted Jan. 13 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights breach portal states that 6,020 individuals were affected by the cyberattack.
COA said that in addition to blocking further access, it reset passwords, reviewed its user accounts and purchased threat detection software.