health
February 11, 2026
Two million children in Utah had health data mistakenly accessible
Utah’s health agency is guilty of the “critical failure” to secure millions of patient records, putting sensitive data at risk, according to an official audit released Tuesday.
TL;DR
- An audit found Utah's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) critically failed to protect over 6 million patient records.
- The data breaches occurred within systems like SAFE (child welfare) and EChart (mental health records), impacting over 2 million individuals.
- Systemic issues in access controls, employee training, and monitoring were identified as key weaknesses.
- The audit highlighted instances of policy breaches, unauthorized access, and improper data disclosure.
- A lack of secure, anonymous reporting mechanisms hinders the identification and correction of wrongdoing.
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