AccidentalHealthcareHealthcareMisconfigurationDelayed DiscoveryPHIHealth (basic)Identity (basic)HighContained

University of Washington

bd_4ecc99dad6670eb7 · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

High

Discovered

Dec 26, 2018

Filed

Feb 20, 2019

To disclose

8 weeks

Affected · nationwide

974,351894,272 in this filing

Linked

5 filings

Confidence

65%

Full breach record for University of Washington →7 incidents on file

University of Washington Medical Center disclosed a security incident where a database configuration error exposed internal files containing PHI (names, medical record numbers, treatment descriptions) to the internet. The breach affected approximately 974,351 individuals, with 894,272 in Washington. Discovery occurred on Dec 26, 2018, after the exposure began on Dec 4, 2018. No SSNs or financial data were involved. Remediation included suspending server changes, engaging consultants, and disabling directory browsing.

J jump to incidentP pin to compareR raw source

Incident timeline

undetected · 22 days

discovery → filing · 8 weeks / 56 days

Dec 4, 2018

Begins

Dec 26, 2018

Discovered

Feb 20, 2019

Filed

vs. sector median

3 wks faster

This filing is one of 5 about the same incident.View merged incident

Linked disclosures

Why this link?

Regulatory filings (4) · sorted by filing gap

Montana State AGbd_3adad2f84e312d482019-02-20Verified by operator
HHS OCRbd_721496fd43b47b112019-02-20Verified by operator
California State AGbd_d6512ec60a11cad62019-02-20Verified by operator
Oregon State AGbd_0968762279005b792019-02-25 · +5dCandidate

Name: University of Washington
norm: university of washington
Domain: uwmedicine.org

Name: University of Washington
norm: university of washington
Domain: uwmedicine.org
Industry: Healthcarellm

Discovered: Dec 26, 2018
Breach occurred: Dec 4, 2018 – Jan 10, 2019
Undetected for: 22 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Feb 19, 2019
Affected individuals: 974,351state + nationwide
Data types: PHIHealth (basic)Identity (basic)
Attack vector: Misconfiguration
MITRE ATT&CK: T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application
Regulator citations: Filed breach notification via the website of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services

During the incident: Removed access to the files
Worked with Google to permanently remove the files from their cache
Notified the media
Posted information to a dedicated website
Made available a toll-free number for patients to call with questions
Changes made: Suspended the ability to make changes to the public web server
Required leadership review at the Director level for any emergency changes
Subjected any change to the server involving PHI or public access to additional security review
Retained Huntzinger Consulting to review its entire change management process
Emphasized unification and strengthening of change management processes
Emphasized strength of testing prior to implementation of server changes
Re-evaluated risk questions utilized during risk reviews and added queries targeted to configuration class errors
Meticulously reviewing all public facing websites
Confirmed all server level directory browsing has been disabled
Removed all server subdirectory folders to a separate root directory
Exploring the implementation of Data Loss Prevention
Considering various vulnerability and penetration testing services
Made communications to all relevant personnel regarding immediate policy and procedure changes
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 8 weeks(56 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: — (clock not assessable for this source)

Status: No extraction artifact recorded for this disclosure.

Filing propagation · 5 filings · 4 states

View merged incident ↗

Montana State AGFeb 20 · first

HHS OCRFeb 20 · first

California State AGFeb 20 · first

Washington State AGFeb 20 · first · this page

Oregon State AG+5d

Pattern: first filing Feb 20 (MT), last Feb 25 (OR) — a 5-day rolling notification. Rolling spreads often mean counsel is filing as thresholds trip per state. Why this link?

Evidence ladder

Leak-site claim

Attacker assertion only. Establishes: claim date, group, alleged victim.

Press / market report

Unlocks: incident narrative, operational impact. Still no compliance clock.

State AG / regulator filingThis record

Unlocks: discovery date, data types, affected count, compliance clock.

SEC 8-K / victim statement

Unlocks: materiality, stated response, full audit trail. Ceiling removed.

Source URL: https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/databreach/BreachM10615.pdf
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Feb 20, 2019
Raw hash: 6fb0a28835d2a008d52e73d459b51c2006f865e63038dbf061459b551640a9a1

Linked disclosures

Regulatory filings (4) · sorted by filing gap

Reporting entityUniversity of Washington

Victim entityUniversity of Washington

Incidentdiscovered Dec 26, 2018

Stated responseRemoved access to the files

Complianceclock not assessable

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenanceagportal-s3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com