One of the biggest issues with hacks and data breaches today is how common they’ve become. News of another one really doesn’t capture the attention the way it once did. But there are two reasons why this Quest Diagnostics hack is different. First, “hard” data was compromised. Second, it could impact your medical care and health in the future.
Most hacks aren’t “hard” information attacks. Generally speaking, it really isn’t a big deal this day in age if your name, phone number, email address and even credit card number are compromised. What’s different about this Quest attack is how extensive and pervasive it was. 11.9 million Quest Diagnostic customers between August 1st of 2018 and May 31st of 2019 were impacted and compromised. Moreover, the data stolen included Social Security numbers, financial information on record with Quest and personal medical information.
We don’t know if all 11.9 million experienced all three of those, just that all three categories were compromised. With your Social Security number and medical information, hackers would have the holy grail for ID theft, medical theft, you name it.
The bottom line is this. If you were a Quest customer between those dates you need to be vigilant in monitoring activity, personal and public records in your name, etc.