New Mexico Department of Health

The New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) experienced a data breach that affected approximately 49,000 individuals. The incident occurred when a spreadsheet containing information about individual deaths in New Mexico was inadvertently sent to a journalist. The journalist had requested information under the Inspection of Public Records Act, but the spreadsheet included protected health information (PHI) regarding every death in the state from January 2020 to December 2021. Although the spreadsheet did not contain names, birthdates, addresses, or contact information, the DOH encouraged families to remain vigilant against any suspicious activity in the name of a recently deceased person in their family. The DOH has taken steps to comply with applicable laws and is working to enhance policies and practices to better protect patient information in the future[1].

Citations:

1. https://healthitsecurity.com/news/new-mexico-department-of-health-data-breach-exposes-decedent-health-information
2. https://www.ibm.com/topics/data-breach
3. https://www.metacompliance.com/blog/data-breaches/5-damaging-consequences-of-a-data-breach
4. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/advice-for-small-organisations/72-hours-how-to-respond-to-a-personal-data-breach/
5. https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/new-mexico-department-of-health-accidentally-exposed-private-data/
6. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/data-breach-response-guide-business
7. https://hbr.org/2023/05/the-devastating-business-impacts-of-a-cyber-breach
8. https://www.nmhealth.org/news/awareness/2023/7/?view=2004
9. https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/definition/data-breach
10. https://www.cloudmask.com/blog/data-breaches-threats-and-consequences
11. https://www.nmhealth.org/about/asd/itsd/cso/dbi/
12. https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/data-breach
13. https://www.nedigital.com/en/blog/data-breach-consequences
14. https://www.perkinscoie.com/en/news-insights/security-breach-notification-chart-new-mexico.html
15. https://www.csoonline.com/article/534628/the-biggest-data-breaches-of-the-21st-century.html
16. https://www.fisglobal.com/en/insights/merchant-solutions-worldpay/article/how-the-consequences-of-a-data-breach-threaten-small-businesses
17. https://www.govtech.com/security/new-mexico-state-regulation-and-licensing-hit-by-data-breach
18. https://www.fortinet.com/resources/cyberglossary/data-breach
19. https://www.theamegroup.com/security-breach/
20. https://nmag.gov/attorney-general-raul-torrez-announces-general-49-5-million-multistate-settlement-with-blackbaud-for-data-breach-impacting-thousands-of-nonprofits-and-millions-of-consumers/
21. https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/rules-business-and-organisations/obligations/what-data-breach-and-what-do-we-have-do-case-data-breach_en
22. https://bigid.com/blog/the-costly-impact-of-a-data-breach-on-individuals/
23. https://www.krqe.com/news/technology/ap-the-latest-victim-of-the-moveit-data-breach-is-the-department-of-health-and-human-services/
24. https://www.mcafee.com/learn/what-is-a-data-breach-and-how-do-you-avoid-it/
25. https://riskxchange.co/349/5-ways-data-breaches-affect-organisations/