Minnesota hearing aid company reports privacy breach

Published 8:46 pm Friday, December 29, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota hearing aid company said excerpts of more than 550 patient records were compromised in a security breach to its e-mail system. The company says no Social Security numbers or financial information were exposed.

Plymouth-based Miracle-Ear said the Oct. 24 incident happened when “an unknown and unauthorized intruder” gained access to the e-mail account of an employee of parent company Amplifon, which handles the accounts and administrative work for subsidiaries.

Company officials said they don’t know if the intruder accessed patient records.

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Because officials said they can’t prove with “100 percent certainty” that the records were not viewed or copied, the company sent letters to those affected by the incident.