{"id":130249,"date":"2024-05-10T19:37:08","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T23:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/?p=130249"},"modified":"2024-05-10T19:37:08","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T23:37:08","slug":"data-breach-ensnares-michigan-politician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/data-breach-ensnares-michigan-politician\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Breach Ensnares Michigan Politician"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

\"Data<\/a>Hardly a day goes by that another company announces a data breach. In 2023, 353 million people<\/strong> had their personal info stolen. One reason for this many data breaches is the rise in healthcare data breaches. Since 2020, the healthcare sector has recorded the most data breaches<\/a>. Healthcare is digitizing and storing lots of sensitive data. This sensitive data is a desirable target for hackers. Attackers can re-use the stolen information<\/strong>. They can use it to run more attacks. These include ransomware<\/strong>, SPAM emails, phishing, vishing, and bogus websites<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n

\"Data<\/a>One example of why breaches in the healthcare sector are increasing is Perry Johnson and Associates (PJ&A). PJ&A is a health care consulting and medical transcription firm. It is largest private provider of transcription services in the United States. They have offices in Troy MI at the world headquarters of Perry Johnson Inc. Perry Johnson<\/a>, of Bloomfield Hills MI, heads the firm. His claim to fame is as a “quality guru.”<\/p>\r\n

Politics<\/h3>\r\n

Johnson has a dubious political track-record. He spent more than $20 million of his own money to get elected. He ran for governor<\/a> of Michigan<\/strong>, as a Republican in 2022. But, before the Republican primary, they removed him from the ballot<\/strong>. This was due to fraudulent and invalid<\/a> petition signatures. Johnson later started a campaign to become the 2024 Republican candidate for president. <\/strong>He abandoned<\/a> that effort in October 2023.<\/p>\r\n

\"Politican\"<\/a>A data breach<\/strong> controversy has also ensnared Johnson. PJ&A suffered a data breach in March 2023. The PJ&A data breach is the second-largest<\/a> healthcare data breach of 2023<\/strong> and the 6th largest ever. The cyberattack exposed the medical and other personal data of at least 14 million people in the U.S. according to The HIPAA Journal<\/a>, an online publication that covers the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

What Happened<\/h3>\r\n

PJ&A found unauthorized activity in its IT systems on May 2, 2023. It hired third-party cybersecurity experts to investigate the incident. The experts were assigned to find the attack’s nature and scope. They were to see if the attackers took sensitive data.<\/p>\r\n

\"unauthorized<\/a>The investigation confirmed unauthorized network access. The unauthorized access occurred from March 27, 2023, to May 2, 2023. During this time, attackers got data from its clients. PJ&A told its clients about the cyberattack on July 21, 2023. In the following days, they confirmed unauthorized access to data.<\/p>\r\n

Data compromised in data breach<\/h3>\r\n

Investigators completed the PJ&A data breach investigation on September 28, 2023. PJ&A said the information accessed by the unauthorized party included:<\/p>\r\n