Pharmacy Times Office of Continuing Professional Education, LLC

The Washington State Office of the Attorney General disclosed a data breach affecting Pharmacy Times Office of Continuing Professional Education, LLC in November 2018. The incident occurred between May 11, 2018, and July 6, 2018, when unauthorized actors gained access to a file containing personally identifiable information (PII). The compromised data included the names and Social Security numbers (SSNs) of 797 Washington residents, exposing them to potential identity theft and financial fraud. The breach was attributed to a security lapse that allowed external access to sensitive records, though no immediate evidence of misuse was reported. The exposure of SSNs highly sensitive identifiers heightens the risk of long-term harm, including fraudulent credit applications, tax fraud, or medical identity theft. The company was required to notify affected individuals and implement corrective measures to prevent future incidents, though the delay in detection (nearly two months) underscored vulnerabilities in their monitoring systems. The breach did not involve ransomware or a broader systemic attack but stemmed from a targeted compromise of a specific data repository.

Source: https://www.atg.wa.gov/data-breach-notifications | https://data.wa.gov/resource/sb4j-ca4h.json?id=10594

TPRM report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/akh-inc-advancing-knowledge-in-healthcare

"id": "akh558082025",
"linkid": "akh-inc-advancing-knowledge-in-healthcare",
"type": "Breach",
"date": "5/2018",
"severity": "85",
"impact": "4",
"explanation": "Attack with significant impact with customers data leaks"

{'affected_entities': [{'customers_affected': 797,
                        'industry': 'Healthcare / Continuing Education',
                        'location': 'Washington, USA',
                        'name': 'Pharmacy Times Office of Continuing '
                                'Professional Education, LLC',
                        'type': 'Organization'}],
 'data_breach': {'data_exfiltration': 'Yes (unauthorized access to a file)',
                 'number_of_records_exposed': 797,
                 'personally_identifiable_information': ['Names',
                                                         'Social Security '
                                                         'numbers'],
                 'sensitivity_of_data': 'High',
                 'type_of_data_compromised': ['Personally Identifiable '
                                              'Information (PII)']},
 'date_publicly_disclosed': '2018-11-13',
 'description': 'The Washington State Office of the Attorney General reported '
                'a data breach involving Pharmacy Times Office of Continuing '
                'Professional Education, LLC. The breach occurred between May '
                '11, 2018, and July 6, 2018, involving unauthorized access to '
                'a file containing personally identifiable information (PII), '
                'specifically the names and Social Security numbers of 797 '
                'Washington residents.',
 'impact': {'data_compromised': ['Names', 'Social Security numbers'],
            'identity_theft_risk': 'High (PII exposed)'},
 'references': [{'source': 'Washington State Office of the Attorney General'}],
 'regulatory_compliance': {'regulatory_notifications': 'Washington State '
                                                       'Office of the Attorney '
                                                       'General'},
 'title': 'Data Breach at Pharmacy Times Office of Continuing Professional '
          'Education, LLC',
 'type': 'Data Breach'}