A month after the initial discovery, former dental patients of the University of Florida College of Dentistry are just now being informed of unauthorized access to their information.
Over 330,000 former patients, some dating back to 1990, have been notified that their information, which includes names, address, birthdates and Social Security number, had been accessed by an outside source.
This was discovered by some IT technicians that were upgrading the school server. They found that there was software that had been installed by a remote user, and along with removing the files, they disconnected the server from the internet to avoid further access. The hacker had access to these files for quite some time, but there is no evidence at this time that any of the information has been used to commit identity theft. Obviously those affected will be at risk for a lng time and should take preventative measures to protect themselves from identity fraud.
Most have been notified, but the university was unable to contact over 8,000 previous patients whose information was at risk. The university has, however, set up a hotline for patients to call and request information about the data breach. This number is 866-783-5883. The FBI and University Police are working together to investigate this security breach.
Patients who had their private information compromised should consider utilizing an identity theft protection service.