HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) Primary notice
Posted on the HHS Office for Civil Rights breach portal with a submission date of Sept. 21, 2016.
- Organization as reported
- USC Keck and Norris Hospitals, CA
- Entity type as reported
- Healthcare Provider
- Category as reported
Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of information as reported
- Network Server
- Submission date
- Sept. 21, 2016
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 14417, row:5556)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
On August 1, 2016, after being notified that certain files were inaccessible, the covered entity (CE) detected ransomware which had encrypted files on two of its computer servers. The servers stored hospital operational manuals as well records containing the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of potentially 16,000 individuals. The types of ePHI involved in the breach included names, demographic information, dates of birth, treatment information, diagnoses, and in some cases social security numbers. The CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media. The CE quickly identified the malware and shut down the impacted servers. The CE fully restored the data on the encrypted files through back up data without paying ransom. The CE implemented additional technical measures to improve malware prevention and detection. OCR’s investigation resulted in the CE improving its safeguards. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions noted above.