A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not comment. Thousands of US patients may have had their data exposed , including names , addresses , doctor 's notes , prescriptions and blood test results along with some Social Security numbers , because of an insecure server . Cybersecurity firm SpiderSilk traced the potential breach to an unprotected fax server that went into operation in March 2018 that was used by an affiliate of California - based medical records company Meditab . The server was not fully secured and lacked encryption . Fax communication remains the principal method for health care providers to provide medical records to pharmacies and other providers .
Thousands of US patients may have had their data exposed , including names , addresses , doctor 's notes , prescriptions and blood test results along with some Social Security numbers , because of an insecure server . Cybersecurity firm SpiderSilk traced the potential breach to an unprotected fax server that went into operation in March 2018 that was used by an affiliate of California - based medical records company Meditab . The server was not fully secured and lacked encryption . Fax communication remains the principal method for health care providers to provide medical records to pharmacies and other providers .