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A data breach at Connecticut\u2019s largest healthcare system Yale New Haven Health affects more than 5.5 million people, according to a legally required notice<\/a> with the U.S. government\u2019s health department.<\/p>\n Yale New Haven said the March cyberattack allowed malicious hackers to obtain copies of patients\u2019 personally identifiable information and some healthcare-related data.\u00a0<\/p>\n Per a notice on the healthcare system\u2019s website<\/a>, the stolen data varies by person, but can include patient names, dates of birth, postal and email addresses, phone numbers, race and ethnicity data, and Social Security numbers. The stolen data also includes information about types of patients and medical record numbers.<\/p>\n Local media quoted<\/a> the healthcare system\u2019s spokesperson as saying that the number of affected individuals \u201cmay change.\u201d <\/p>\n When asked about the nature of the cyberattack by TechCrunch, Yale New Haven spokesperson Dana Marnane did not dispute that the incident was related to ransomware<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThe sophistication of the attack leads us to believe that it was executed by an individual or group who has a pattern of these types of incidents,\u201d said Marnane, declining to comment further to TechCrunch, citing an ongoing law enforcement investigation.<\/p>\n The healthcare provider declined to say if it had any communication with the hackers, or if the hackers made a demand for payment.<\/p>\n As of press time, no major ransomware group has publicly taken credit for the hack. It\u2019s not uncommon for ransomware and data extortion gangs<\/a> to publish a victim\u2019s stolen files when negotiations to pay the ransom demand fail. <\/p>\n This is the second major healthcare data breach confirmed this week, after Blue Shield of California revealed it shared health data of 4.7 million patients with Google<\/a> over several years.<\/p>\n