Physicians Primary Care of Southwest Florida was the victim of a targeted cyberattack in September 2024 that exposed patient data. The data breach sparked a class action lawsuit alleging the breach could have been prevented, as Physicians Primary Care of Southwest Florida failed to implement reasonable and appropriate security measures to prevent unauthorized access to patient data in its possession.
Physicians Primary Care of Southwest Florida is a medical facility with offices in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, and Lehigh Acres, Florida, that specializes in internal medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, family practice, and pediatrics. On or around September 17, 2024, unauthorized access to its network was identified. The hackers behind the attack had access to the network from September 15, 2024, to September 17, 2024, and potentially viewed or obtained patient data such as names, health information, and Social Security numbers. The data breach was reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights as affecting 170,653 individuals.
The first lawsuit over the data breach was filed on December 3, 2024, in the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit. An amended complaint was filed on March 7, 2025, in the Circuit Court for Lee County, Florida, naming two alternative plaintiffs, as the plaintiff who filed the initial complaint was determined not to be a putative class member…