MisuseHealthcareGovernmentHealthcarePrivilege AbuseEmployee Data InvolvedCustomer Data InvolvedPHIHealth (basic)Identity (basic)EmploymentMediumActive

California Department of State Hospitals

bd_bef01021bc772a9b · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

Medium

Discovered

Feb 25, 2021

Filed

Mar 17, 2021

To disclose

20 days

Affected

2,032

Linked

4 filings

Confidence

64%

Full breach record for California Department of State Hospitals →3 incidents on file

An employee at the CA Department of State Hospitals (DSH)-Atascadero improperly accessed patient and employee data servers using legitimate IT credentials. The incident involved the unauthorized access of names, COVID-19 test results, and health information for approximately 1,415 patients and 617 employees. The breach occurred between November 6, 2020, and February 5, 2021, and was discovered on February 25, 2021, during an annual access rights review. The employee was placed on administrative leave, and the incident was reported to multiple state and federal regulators.

J jump to incidentP pin to compareR raw source

California clockDiscovered Feb 25, 2021 → Notified Mar 17, 202120d ✓ CA 60-day OK20 days discovery → filing

Incident timeline

undetected · 111 days

discovery → filing · 20 days

Nov 6, 2020

Begins

Feb 25, 2021

Discovered

Mar 17, 2021

Filed

vs. sector median

9 wks faster

This filing is one of 4 about the same incident.View merged incident

Linked disclosures

Why this link?

Regulatory filings (3) · sorted by filing gap

HHS OCRbd_cf89708cf713e4812021-03-17Verified
California State AGbd_c1cfab1260d5fbcf2021-04-05 · +19dCandidate
California State AGbd_f0d4f93fd7d4c2f22021-05-11 · +55dCandidate

Name: California Department of State Hospitals
norm: california department of state hospitals
Domain: dsh.ca.gov

Name: California Department of State Hospitals
norm: california department of state hospitals
Domain: dsh.ca.gov
Industry: HealthcarellmGovernmentllm

Discovered: Feb 25, 2021
Breach occurred: Nov 6, 2020 – Feb 5, 2021
Undetected for: 111 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Mar 17, 2021
Affected individuals: 2,032nationwide
Data types: PHIHealth (basic)Identity (basic)Employment
Attack vector: Insider
MITRE ATT&CK: T1078 Valid Accounts
Threat actor: Internal
Regulator citations: Reported to HHS Office of Civil RightsReported to California Office of Information SecurityReported to California Office of Health Information IntegrityReported to California Highway PatrolReported to California Department of Public HealthReported to California Attorney General’s Office
Initial access: insider_action

During the incident: Placed the principal subject of the investigation on administrative leave pending completion of the investigation
Analyzed the electronic network to see whether the employee improperly accessed any other information
Cooperating with the law enforcement agency in conducting an investigation
Reported this breach to the United States Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights
Reported this breach to the California Office of Information Security
Reported this breach to the California Office of Health Information Integrity
Reported this breach to the California Highway Patrol
Reported this breach to the California Department of Public Health
Reported this breach to the California Attorney General’s Office
Notifying all individuals whose Protected Health Information (PHI) have been compromised
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 20 days(20 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: CA 60-day OK · 20d
Discovery-date grounding: letter-groundedThe discovery date is the detection date narrated in the notification letter — the defensible tier.
Clock breakdown: Statute Window Elapsed Threshold Status
California
Discovered: Feb 25, 2021
→ Notified: Mar 17, 2021
20d 60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries) CA 60-day OK

Statute	Window	Elapsed	Threshold	Status
California	Discovered: Feb 25, 2021 → Notified: Mar 17, 2021	20d	60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries)	CA 60-day OK

Status: No extraction artifact recorded for this disclosure.

Filing propagation · 4 filings

View merged incident ↗

HHS OCRMar 17 · first

California State AGMar 17 · first · this page

California State AG+19d

California State AG+55d

Pattern: first filing Mar 17 (CA), last May 11 (CA) — a 55-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://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-539211
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Mar 17, 2021
Raw hash: 5ad34db3740df0d9d95f95bc2780ea08f2045d8f60dbd8514a88021ab49162b6

Linked disclosures

Regulatory filings (3) · sorted by filing gap

Reporting entityCalifornia Department of State Hospitals

Victim entityCalifornia Department of State Hospitals

Incidentdiscovered Feb 25, 2021

Stated responsePlaced the principal subject of the investigation on administrative leave pending completion of the investigation

ComplianceCA 60-day OK

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenanceoag.ca.gov