Hacker removes files from New Mexico hospital's computers

San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, N.M., recently began notifying nearly 69,000 patients that their protected health information was compromised by hackers.

SJRMC reported the breach to HHS on June 4, saying it affected 68,792 individuals. The hospital said it discovered that an unauthorized individual accessed its network from Sept. 7-8, 2020, during which the unauthorized individual removed some information, according to a June 4 online notice.

Some of the files the hacker removed contained patient information including names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, driver's license numbers, financial account numbers and medical record details.

SJRMC said it does not have any evidence that any of the information was misused, but it is offering free credit monitoring services to patients whose Social Security numbers were among the files that were removed.