Quest Diagnostics, one of the country’s largest medical lab companies, says someone gained unauthorized access to a system it uses with clients and may have viewed certain patient records.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Quest said the breach involved its Quantum Lab Services Manager, which some clients use to order tests and look up results. The company said it discovered the access Wednesday and began its incident response to contain it, Reuters reported.
Quest said it has notified federal law enforcement and brought in outside cybersecurity experts. It has not said how many people may be affected, and said operations have not been materially disrupted.
It isn’t the first time Quest patient data has been exposed. A 2016 hack exposed lab results and contact information for about 34,000 people, and a 2019 breach at a billing collections vendor affected about 11.9 million Quest patients, the Associated Press has reported.
Patients who used Quest should watch for notices from the company and be wary of calls or emails asking for medical or financial information.
Sources: FOX 10 Phoenix. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Ser Amantio di Nicolao / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
