By HFT Staff

Coos Health & Wellness (CHW) is a provider of public and behavioral health services to individuals in Coos County, Oregon. CHW experienced a data security incident that may have involved personal and protected health information belonging to individuals who received services at various programs that CHW supports. CHW has sent notification of this incident by way of the United States Postal Service to potentially impacted individuals and provided resources to assist them.

On April 28, 2023, CHW became aware of a possible data security incident involving its network environment. Following discovery, they engaged an independent cybersecurity firm to investigate the scope of potential access to the CHW network and whether sensitive information may have been affected. The investigation subsequently revealed that certain personal and protected health information may have been accessed or acquired without authorization. CHW then initiated a comprehensive review of the potentially impacted data to determine the types of personal and protected health information involved and identify the potentially impacted individuals. Following completion of the review of data, CHW then worked diligently to gather current contact information needed to notify all potentially affected individuals. This process was completed on December 8, 2023.

Based on the investigation, the affected personal and protected health information may have included names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver's license or other state identification card numbers, medical information, and health insurance information.

On December 15, 2023, CHW provided notice of this incident to the potentially impacted individuals. In so doing, CHW provided information about the incident and about steps that potentially impacted individuals can take to protect their information.