Blue Shield of California has confirmed that it shared sensitive health information of approximately 4.7 million individuals with Google from 2021 until data sharing ceased in January 2024. This revelation comes after the insurer discovered that a misconfiguration in Google Analytics had led to the unintended collection of personal data, including healthcare search terms and patient details. Although the data sharing has stopped, concerns have been raised regarding the security and handling of private health information within healthcare systems.
Blue Shield of California has acknowledged a significant data breach, notifying 4.7 million individuals that their sensitive health information was shared with Google since 2021.
The insurer attributed the breach to a misconfiguration in Google Analytics that inadvertently captured personal and health data, leading to focused ad campaigns.
Affected data includes names, insurance plan details, and sensitive search terms, raising concerns about privacy and the use of online tracking technologies in healthcare.
Blue Shield stopped sharing this data in January 2024 and only discovered the breach in February, raising questions about data security practices.
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