A Jackson Health System employee has been fired after a security breach put the confidential information of 1,800 hospital patients in jeopardy, officials said Monday.

The unidentified former employee inappropriately accessed the financial information and authorities are looking into possible criminal charges, JHS spokeswoman Jennifer Piedra said in a statement.

The hospital system is not releasing the name of the employee or what department the person worked in.

The sensitive information could potentially be used for fraud so Jackson has offered free credit card fraud protection for all of the patients impacted by the security breach, which was discovered after an internal investigation, Piedra said.