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City of Philadelphia discloses data breach after five months. The City of Philadelphia is investigating a data breach after attackers "may have gained access" to City email accounts containing personal and protected health information five months ago, in May. While officials discovered the incident on May 24 following suspicious activity in the City's email environment, the investigation found that the threat actors may have accessed emails in the compromised email accounts for at least two months after the City became aware of the incident. "However, to date, the investigation determined that between May 26, 2023 and July 28, 2023, an unauthorized actor may have gained access to certain City email accounts and certain information contained therein," the breach notice says. "Also, on August 22, 2023, we became aware that the at-issue email accounts include email accounts that may contain protected health information." While the investigation and a manual review of the affected email accounts are still ongoing, the City revealed that the types of information exposed for impacted individuals include a combination of: "In an abundance of caution, we are conducting a comprehensive, programmatic and manual review of the potentially impacted email accounts to determine whether personal information or protected health information was potentially affected," the notice says. "If so, the City will work to confirm the identities and contact information for potentially impacted individuals and provide notice via written letter." City officials also urged individuals who may have been affected to stay vigilant against financial fraud attempts and potential incidents of identity theft.  They advised monitoring credit reports and account statements closely, enabling individuals to promptly inform their insurance company, healthcare provider, or bank about any suspicious activity. City officials are yet to provide details on how the attackers breached the City's email accounts and the reasons behind the delay in disclosing the incident for five months. As reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the City's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services (DBHIDS) also disclosed a HIPAA breach in June 2020 after the personal health information of individuals it served was compromised following a March phishing attack. A breach notice revealed that the email accounts of DBHIDS and Community Behavioral Health employees were hacked in the phishing attack and were accessed by the attackers between March 31 and November 15, 2020.

Daily Brief Summary

DATA BREACH // City of Philadelphia Reveals Data Breach Five Months After Incident

The City of Philadelphia is investigating a data breach in which unauthorized actors may have accessed City email accounts containing personal and protected health information.

The breach was first discovered on May 24, yet the threat actors may have accessed emails up to two months after the discovery.

The types of information exposed included a mix of personal and protected health information; the full extent of the breach is currently unknown.

Investigations are ongoing and a comprehensive review of the potential affected accounts is being undertaken to determine the extent of the breach and who may have been impacted.

Officials have encouraged individuals who may have been affected to remain vigilant against potential instances of identity theft and financial fraud.

The details of the breach methodology and the reasons for the five-month disclosure delay have not been provided by city officials.

This is not the first such data breach involving the Philly administration; in June 2020, the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services also suffered a data breach from a phishing attack, revealing personal health information.