US healthcare center notifies 456K people of data breach
Goshen Medical Center, a non-profit health center serving eastern North Carolina, has started informing 456,385 people that their data has been accessed in a February 2025 cyberattack.
Image from Shutterstock
Goshen Medical Center, a non-profit health center serving eastern North Carolina, has started informing 456,385 people that their data has been accessed in a February 2025 cyberattack.
The provider, which has over 35 different locations across eastern North Carolina, detected suspicious activity on its network on March 4th, 2025, and involved third-party cybersecurity specialists to investigate the issue.
They found that an unathorized party had managed to access company files and viewed or acquired them on February 15th, 2025.
According to a report submitted to the Maine Attorney General’s office, the breach affected the information of 456,385 people.
- Names and addresses
- Dates of birth
- Social Security numbers
- Driver’s license numbers
- Medical record number
More from Cybernews
Sainsbury’s installs more facial rec tech in stores: Should shoppers be worried?
"Phantom squatting” uses AI hallucinated domains for cyber attacks
What they’re doing to gamers is a robbery in broad daylight
Irish parliament expands Microsoft use, despite the EU’s efforts to ditch it
Can government AI actually scrub UAP footage from the internet?
The EU and Apple CEO Tim Cook held "constructive" talks after their Siri AI dispute in Europe
In the aftermath of the attack, a ransomware gang BianLian posted the medical center to its data leak site. Goshen Medical Center hasn’t confirmed the leak or whether it has received or paid a ransom.
The breach became the third-largest ransomware attack on a US healthcare company, according to Comparitech.
"This week has seen three of the six largest data breaches (via ransomware) on US healthcare companies this year. This attack on Goshen Medical Center becomes the third largest, while Medical Associates of Brevard, LLC takes fourth place (notifying nearly 247,000 of a January 2025 breach via BianLian) and New York Blood Center Enterprises takes sixth place (nearly 194,000 affected in a January 2025 attack via unknown hackers),” Rebecca Moody, Head of Data Research at Comparitech, told Cybernews.
"All three of these attacks highlight two key things. First, they demonstrate how the healthcare sector remains a dominant target for ransomware gangs because of the amount of sensitive data up for grabs. Second, they serve as a reminder that it's often months before we find out about the extent of these attacks."
Ransomware attacks on US healthcare institutions have intensified in recent months. Close to 200 million people were affected in a cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group's tech unit, Change Healthcare, by the "Blackcat" ransomware group.
And just days ago, a hacker gang posted Baltimore Medical System on the Brain Cipher ransomware cartel’s dark web blog, used to showcase its latest victims. It is the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in the state of Maryland.
"So, while ransomware attacks on the US healthcare sector may seem lower than last year (we've noted 61 confirmed attacks and 6.1 million breached records so far this year, compared to 174 attacks and 28.6 million breached records in total last year), we shouldn't focus too much on these as of yet,” Moody adds.
It's highly likely we'll see a number of other major breaches coming through in the coming months. For example, we still don't know how many were impacted in the attack on Kettering Health and out of the top 10 breaches on healthcare companies via ransomware this year so far, all but one took place from January to March."