Brief
Epic pauses development to address security bugs in MyChart
The pause, announced by founder Judy Faulkner, follows discovery of bugs that could let outsiders access records without detection.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Epic, the maker of the MyChart patient portal used by more than 320 million records across U.S. hospitals, has suspended most of its product development for an estimated six weeks, according to a statement from founder and chief executive Judy Faulkner reported by Modern Healthcare. The pause follows a deployment of Anthropic’s cybersecurity model Mythos that uncovered security flaws which, as chief security officer Stirling Martin told The Times, might allow external parties to view patient records without leaving logs. Martin said the AI model did not confirm whether the bugs could be used to alter records, but deemed the risk sufficient to warrant remediation. Epic maintains that it does not store customers’ medical data, placing that responsibility on individual providers. The company has not disclosed the specific nature of the vulnerabilities. The move reflects growing concern that AI tools can rapidly discover and exploit software weaknesses, a trend highlighted by recent high‑profile healthcare breaches affecting millions of Americans.
Key facts
- Epic halted most product development for about six weeks. (techcrunch.com)
- The pause follows discovery of security bugs by Anthropic’s Mythos AI model. (techcrunch.com)
- MyChart holds over 320 million patient records in the United States. (techcrunch.com)
- Epic says it does not have direct access to customers’ medical data. (techcrunch.com)
Sources
- [1] techcrunch.com — originally reported as “Medical records giant Epic pauses product development to fix security bugs that risk patients' data”
