Quest Diagnostics takes its Quanum lab ordering system offline after a breach exposed patient data
The lab giant told the SEC it learned of the unauthorized access on October 21. It says the attack was not connected to the recent PHP flaws.
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Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest clinical laboratory companies in the US, has disclosed unauthorized access to Quanum Lab Services Manager (LSM). Physicians, hospital staff and medical offices use the online system to place test orders and to receive and look up results. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it learned of the access on October 21 and activated its incident response procedures to contain the activity and investigate its scope. Quest took the platform offline on Thursday and paused several other systems while investigators examine the breach. It said it believes some patient data in the system was accessed and is still working out which data was affected. The company says no other part of its business was impacted. It is working with law enforcement, has told customers to use paper requisitions in the meantime, and said it expected Quanum to be back up by Friday. Quest said the incident did not involve the recent PHP vulnerabilities, and a spokesperson declined to comment on what kind of attack it was. The potential impact is broad. Quest reported more than $11 billion in revenue last year and says it serves half of US doctors and hospitals and one in three American adults each year.