Quest Diagnostics Confirms Patient Data Breach

Quest Diagnostics has confirmed a cyberattack that exposed some patient information stored in its systems. The company disclosed the incident in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The attack targeted Quanum, a system used by doctors’ offices, hospitals and healthcare practices to request lab tests and handle billing. Quest said unauthorized access included “certain patient records.” On its website, the company said some patients’ protected health information, including personal information and patient records, was taken. It is still investigating what specific data was accessed.

Quest said it notified law enforcement and is investigating. It has not said when the breach began, how many patients or healthcare customers were affected, or whether an attacker demanded payment. The company did not specify the amount of information involved.

Quest’s website says Quanum is used by about half a million clinicians in thousands of locations across North America. The company has not said how many health records the system holds.

This is Quest’s second known major data breach in a decade. In 2019, a cyberattack on a third-party billing company resulted in the loss of 11.9 million patient records.