United States Medical Device Cybersecurity Services Market – openPR.com
Orthopaedic Institute of Western Kentucky Patients Affected by Vendor Data Breach – The HIPAA Journal
Long Island Plastic Surgical Group Settles Class Action Lawsuit Over BlackCat Ransomware Attack
A consolidated class action lawsuit against Long Island Plastic Surgical Group, P.C has been resolved with a $2,600,000 settlement. Legal action was taken by patients of the Garden City, New York-based private, academic plastic surgery practice in response to a January 4, 2024, ransomware attack by the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group. The forensic investigation confirmed that the BlackCat group accessed its network between January 4, 2024, and January 8, 2024, and used ransomware to encrypt files. Prior to encrypting files, sensitive data was exfiltrated from the network, including personal identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI).
Data stolen in the incident included full names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers or state identification numbers, dates of birth, biometric information, account numbers, credit or debit card information, medical information, patient photographs, health insurance policy information, and patient account numbers. In total, more than 161,000 current and former patients were affected. The BlackCat ransomware group demanded payment to prevent the publication of the stolen data on its dark web data leak site. Long Island Plastic Surgical Group chose to pay the ransom to prevent the release of the stolen data and received confirmation that the stolen data had been deleted.
On October 4, 2024, the affected individuals were notified by mail. Shortly after issuing notifications, seven putative class action lawsuits were filed by patients over the incident, alleging they had suffered harm as a result of the data breach. The lawsuits were consolidated – Baum et al. v. Long Island Plastic Surgical Group, P.C. – in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Nassau.
The consolidated lawsuit asserted claims for negligence, negligence per se, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, and violation of the New York Consumer Law for Deceptive Acts and Practices Act. Long Island Plastic Surgical Group denies the allegations and all liability, including claims that the defendants suffered any injury or damage as a result of the incident. To avoid the time, expense, and uncertainties of defending protracted litigation, the defendant agreed to settle the litigation. Class counsel and the class representatives agreed to the settlement as they concluded it was in the best interests of the class members.
Under the terms of the settlement, Long Island Plastic Surgical Group will establish a $2,600,000 settlement fund to cover attorneys’ fees and expenses, settlement administration and notification costs, service awards for the class representatives, and benefits for the class members. Class members may submit a claim for reimbursement of documented, unreimbursed losses due to the data breach up to a maximum of $5,000 per class member, or they may choose to receive an alternative pro rata cash payment. An additional pro rata cash payment of up to $1,000 may be claimed by class members who had clinical photographs compromised in the incident.
The amount paid to class members claiming alternative cash payments will depend on the number of claims received, including claims for the additional cash payments. The additional cash payments may also be reduced depending on the remaining funds after legal costs and expenses, service awards, administration and notification costs, and claims for reimbursement of losses have been paid. The deadline for objection to and exclusion from the settlement is May 4, 2026. Claims must be submitted by May 18, 2026, and the final approval hearing has been scheduled for June 2, 2026.
The post Long Island Plastic Surgical Group Settles Class Action Lawsuit Over BlackCat Ransomware Attack appeared first on The HIPAA Journal.
Orthopaedic Institute of Western Kentucky Patients Affected by Vendor Data Breach
Orthopaedic Institute of Western Kentucky has notified patients that their PHI was compromised in two security incidents at their managed IT services provider. Supportive Home Health Care and Patriot Outpatient has identified unauthorized access to an employee’s email account.
Orthopaedic Institute of Western Kentucky
Orthopaedic Institute of Western Kentucky (now Mercy Health — Western Kentucky Orthopedics) in Paducah, Kentucky, has been affected by two security incidents at one of its business associates, the managed IT services provider Keystone Technologies.
Keystone Technologies notified the orthopedic institute about unauthorized access to Keystone systems on two occasions: the first between April 21, 2025, and April 26, 2025, and the second between July 19, 2025, and August 1, 2025. During both periods, unauthorized individuals exfiltrated files containing patient information. The affected files were reviewed, and the affected individuals were identified in December 2025 and January 2026. Data compromised in the incident included names, addresses, dates of birth, medical record numbers, Social Security numbers, treatment information, and health insurance information. Electronic medical records were not subject to unauthorized access, nor were any of Mercy Health’s systems.
The affected individuals have now been notified and offered a complimentary 12-month membership to a credit monitoring and identity theft protection service. The incident is not yet shown on the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights breach portal, so it is currently unclear how many individuals have been affected.
Supportive Home Health Care and Patriot Outpatient
Superior Care Plus, LLC, doing business as Supportive Home Health Care and Patriot Outpatient, LLC (Patriot), a provider of home healthcare services in Northeast Ohio, has announced a data breach affecting 1,415 of its patients.
On November 17, 2025, suspicious activity was identified within an employee’s email account. An investigation was launched to determine the nature and scope of the activity, and Patriot confirmed that the email account was compromised as a result of the employee responding to a phishing email. No other email accounts or systems were compromised in the incident.
On January 9, 2026, the forensic investigation was completed, and Patriot confirmed that the compromised account contained first and last names, city/ZIP codes, email addresses, health insurance policy numbers, medical treatment information, admission/discharge dates, patient logs, referring facility, start care date, policy name, and referring primary care physician name. A limited number of individuals also had their Social Security numbers and/or Medicare numbers exposed.
Patriot has taken several steps to prevent further unauthorized access to email data. The affected email account was deleted, and the individual, and a new account was created, rather than reactivating the account after a password change. Further training has been provided to the workforce on email security and phishing email identification, and third-party cybersecurity experts have helped Patriot enhance its technical security measures and procedures.
The post Orthopaedic Institute of Western Kentucky Patients Affected by Vendor Data Breach appeared first on The HIPAA Journal.