PracticeHub data breach – chiropractors hit by potential theft of client data

PracticeHub, a leading software platform used by many chiropractors, has been hit by a data breach, potentially putting clients’ sensitive personal information at risk.

Clients of a leading London chiropractic clinic have been contacted to inform them that some of the clinic’s patient records, which were stored using PracticeHub, have gone missing. The clinic has stated that “at this stage it must be presumed that they have been stolen”.

The missing data is said to include:

• Patient Registration documents (including names, addresses, dates of birth, email addresses and telephone numbers)
• Clinic Notes prior to 2019
• Medical documents patients have shared with the clinic
• Invoices and statements (without payment details)

Clinic Notes from 2019 onwards have apparently not been affected.

Given how widely used the platform is, it is likely that patient records from many other chiropractic clinics may also be involved. The PracticeHub platform runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is a global leader in cloud-based services and initial information suggests that other AWS customers may have been affected by the same data breach.

PracticeHub have apparently taken steps to mitigate the impact of the data breach and recover the missing data. They have also supposedly said that the nature of the missing data is “unlikely to contain adequate data for identity theft”. However, with so little information to go on at this point, this is by no means certain.

As this is a breaking story, there will undoubtedly be more information about exactly what caused the breach and what data has been put at risk in the near future. This article will be updated as and when more is known – you can follow us on Twitter for all the latest news about the PracticeHub data breach and other breaking stories.

The team at Hayes Connor are ready to support anyone who may have been affected by the PracticeHub data breach or any other Amazon Web Services data breach.

To learn more about how you can make a claim, please get in touch.

What to do if you are worried about the PracticeHub data breach

If you are a patient of a chiropractic clinic affected by the PracticeHub data breach, your clinic should either have contacted you already or do so soon. If you have not received any communication and you are concerned that your data has been exposed, you should contact your clinic and raise your concerns with them directly.

You should also be extremely vigilant for any unexpected communications, especially if they relate to your health. These could be ‘phishing attacks’ by cybercriminals who have obtained your email address or phone number, with these types of attacks being designed to get you to disclose additional personal data, such as your bank account details.

To minimise the risk of your data being used by cybercriminals, there are several steps you can take. To find out more, read our guide to what to do if your data has been stolen in a data breach.

If your data has been exposed as a result of the PracticeHub data breach, you may also be entitled to compensation. This is something the team at Hayes Connor can help you with.

How Hayes Connor can help you claim compensation for the PracticeHub data breach

Any organisation that handles personal data, like PracticeHub, has a legal obligation to ensure that data stays protected. If they have failed in that duty, then anyone whose personal data has been put at risk may be entitled to compensation.

Hayes Connor has one of the largest team of dedicated data breach specialists in the country, with a wealth of combined experience. As such, we are able to provide seasoned expertise on exactly what to do if you believe you may be owed data breach compensation.

We can advise you on whether you are owed compensation, how much you may be able to claim and how the claims process works. Our team can then provide close personal support through every stage of making a data breach claim, making things as easy as possible for you.

You can find out more about our expertise and how we handle data breach claims here.

To start a claim, you can use our online claim form.

To speak to a member of our team about the PracticeHub data breach, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 0330 041 5132.