New Jersey hospital hack exposes patients’ personal details

Attackers penetrated the Cooper Health System a whole year ago, exposing tens of thousands of individuals' personal identifiable information (PII).

Unauthorized actors accessed the Camden-headquartered health care organization sometime last year, with Cooper noticing that something was off with its systems in May 2024. After noticing the attack, Cooper, also known as Cooper University Health Care, secured the exposed environment.

As is usual in cases like these, the company hired a third-party cybersecurity company to investigate. Researchers finished the investigation ten months after the attack, with Cooper taking even more time to inform victims that their data had been stolen.

It turns out that tens of thousands of people had their full names and Social Security numbers (SSNs) exposed in the attack. According to information Cooper submitted to the Maine Attorney General's Office, over 57,000 people were impacted.

Losing SSNs poses significant risks, as impersonators can use stolen data in tandem with names and driver’s license numbers for identity theft.

“To help prevent something like this from happening again, Cooper is implementing additional security protocols. It is also offering complimentary credit and identity protection monitoring services to all individuals whose Social Security numbers were potentially affected by the incident,” Cooper’s breach notification reads.

Cooper is a large regional player in its market segment, with 2.4 million outpatient visits reported in 2024. The company's latest annual report indicates that its operating revenue in 2024 exceeded $2.4 billion.