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 service in March 2018 that was used by an affiliate of California-based medical records company Meditab. The server was not password secured and lacked encryption. Fax communication remains the principal method for health care providers to send medical records to pharmacies and other providers.