Employee email accounts of Children's National Health System targeted with Phishing emails

Children's National became a victim of a cyber-attack, after its employees responded to phishing emails by hackers believing they were legitimate.

The issue came to light on December 26 last year and Children's National believes that any potential unauthorized access of its employees email accounts could have taken place between July 26 and December 26 last year.

Children's National has come out to say that Patient History Information of various patients in the affected email accounts has been put at risk, and although it has not received any information regarding the misuse of this information, affected people are being informed to stay on the lookout for discrepancies in their insurance statement.

On learning of the incident, Children's National immediately secured the emails accounts of the affected employees and began an investigation into the matter. They hired an external forensics firm to carry out their investigation into the matter.

They implemented new safety features and reviewed its systems to upgrade the security of their network. They have also setup a dedicated call centre with a helpline number for getting in touch with the affected patients.