Abbott Medical Company Investigating Two Security Breaches: What Patients Should Know

Abbott Laboratories, one of America's largest healthcare companies, is investigating two different cybersecurity incidents that happened recently. The first incident involves unauthorized access to its Cancer Diagnostics business. The second affects its LabCentral portal. The company says these two incidents appear to be unrelated but were discovered within days of each other in mid-July. Two different hacker groups, ShinyHunters and ShadowByt3$, have both claimed responsibility for breaching Abbott's systems. If you or a family member has received cancer diagnostics services from Abbott or used their LabCentral portal, your personal health information may have been accessed without authorization. This could include medical test results, personal identifying information, and other health records. Abbott has not yet disclosed the full extent of what information may have been compromised in either incident.

Here is what you should do right now if you are an Abbott patient or have used their services:

1. Monitor your medical records carefully for any unauthorized changes or activity.
2. Watch for unusual emails, text messages, or phone calls claiming to be from Abbott or your healthcare provider asking for personal information.
3. Check your credit reports and financial accounts for suspicious activity, as medical data breaches can lead to identity theft.
4. Contact Abbott directly through their official customer service channels if you have concerns about your specific records.
5. Sign up for any monitoring services Abbott may offer as a result of these incidents. To protect your medical information going forward, always use strong, unique passwords for any online healthcare portals. Enable two-factor authentication whenever it is available on medical websites. Be cautious about emails asking you to click links or provide personal information, even if they appear to come from your healthcare provider. When in doubt, contact the company directly using a phone number from their official website, not from an email you received.