Quest Diagnostics reports cyberattack compromising patient data

Quest Diagnostics confirmed that a cyberattack on its Quanum lab-testing system accessed "certain patient records," according to an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The breach affected the platform that handles test orders, diagnostic results and billing for doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers across North America. Quest said it has notified law-enforcement authorities and is investigating the scope of the unauthorized access.

The company did not disclose how many patients or healthcare customers were affected, nor did it indicate whether any extortion demands have been made. Amanda Rivera, a spokesperson for Quest, referred reporters to the company’s security notice, which states that some patients’ protected health information, including personal details and medical records, was taken.

The incident follows a series of recent cyberattacks on health-tech firms, including breaches at Stryker, Boston Scientific, CareCloud, Craneware and McKesson. Quest’s Quanum platform is used by roughly half a million clinicians, and a prior case study suggested that a single health system could store hundreds of millions of medical documents on the service. This is the lab-testing company's second major breach in a decade, the first occurring in 2019 when a third-party billing provider exposed 11.9 million patient records.