The information was available on the Internet for nine days

Dec 13, 2012 10:33 GMT  ·  By

Representatives of California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) have admitted that the details of around 14,000 people – including their social security numbers – have been inadvertently published on the Web.

According to KCRA 3, the information, belonging to Medi-Cal providers working for In-Home Supportive Services, had been posted on the Medi-Cal website for a period of nine days before someone noticed the error.

Individuals from 25 countries are affected by the breach. Those impacted will be receiving notification letters and they’re being offered one year of free credit monitoring services.

Additional measures are being deployed to avoid such incidents from occurring in the future.

This is the second time in the past 5 months when In-Home Supportive Services providers are affected by a data breach. Last time, a total of 750,000 people were exposed by a breach at the Department of Social Services.