A consent judgment in a Massachusetts court against a Georgia-based home health and hospice company is a reminder of the potential damage phishing e-mails can cause for healthcare providers and their patients if adequate security measures are not deployed.
The complaint and consent judgment against Aveanna Healthcare LLC, entered Nov. 3 in Suffolk Superior Court, follows a series of phishing attacks that impacted more than 4,000 Massachusetts residents, according to a press release from the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy. Aveanna is a national provider of pediatric and adult home health care, operating in 33 states with Massachusetts offices located in Brockton, Plymouth, Shrewsbury, Springfield, Waltham, West Springfield, and Worcester. The AG’s Office alleges that in July 2019, Aveanna employees began receiving fraudulent “phishing” emails designed to cause the recipient to provide credentials, money, or sensitive information.
“Companies have an obligation to put the right security measures and systems in place to prevent hackers from accessing sensitive information,” said Healey, in a statement. “As a result of this resolution, Aveanna will ensure compliance with our strong data security laws and take the steps necessary to protect its employees and the private data of Massachusetts residents moving forward.”
The private information, which may have included Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account numbers, and health information such as diagnoses, medications, and treatment records, of more than 4,000 Massachusetts residents, including patients and employees, was potentially accessed by the hackers.
In one instance, a phishing e-mail was sent to employees that appeared to come from Aveanna’s president. The attacks continued into August 2019, by which point more than 600 phishing e-mails were sent to employees. Employees’ responses to these e-mails resulted in hackers obtaining access to portions of Aveanna’s computer network. The hackers also tried to defraud employees by logging into Aveanna’s human resources system and altering individual employees’ direct deposit information. In response to the incident, Aveanna provided affected Massachusetts residents with two years of free credit monitoring.
The AG’s Office alleges that Aveanna was aware that its cybersecurity required improvement but had not implemented new changes to improve it by the time the phishing attacks occurred. Among the problems Aveanna identified were a lack of sufficient tools and employee training to stop phishing attacks, and a lack of the use of multi-factor authentication, which can also help to stop phishing attacks.
The AG’s Office also alleges that Aveanna’s security program failed to meet the minimum required safeguards to protect personal information under the Massachusetts Data Security Regulations. The complaint also alleges that Aveanna failed to meet the standards for security of protected health information that are required by federal HIPAA regulations.
Under the terms of the consent judgment, Aveanna will pay $425,000 to the AG’s Office. Additionally, the company will be required to develop, implement, and maintain a security program that includes phishing protection technology, multi-factor authentication, and other systems designed to detect and address intrusions.
Aveanna must also continue to train its employees on data security, keep them up to date on security threats, and do an annual independent assessment of its compliance with the consent judgment and the Massachusetts Data Security Regulations for a period of four years.
