Community Health Systems suffers criminal cyber attack, records stolen

Community Health Systems said on Monday that the company suffered a criminal cyber attack and millions of records were stolen.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that the breach compromised personal data for some 4.5 million patients. The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the information stolen from the Community Health Systems of Tennessee computers, included names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers.

The filing goes on to say that the attacks were committed with "highly sophisticated malware and technology."

The hospital operator and cybersecurity firm Mandiant believe that the attack originated in China. FOX News noted that the firm also believes that the attacks occurred sometime between April and June.

Unfortunately, security breaches, especially of credit card information, have become a scary and all-too-common reality in today’s world. For this particular attack though, the company said that the hackers did not take credit card, medical or clinical information.

Those whose data was stolen have been personally notified about the theft.