More Than 700,000 Affected by Utah Department of Health Hack

On March 30, 2012, the Utah Department of Technology Services (DTS) suffered a data breach as a result of which sensitive data was extracted by the attackers. Initial reports mentioned only around 24,000 victims, but now it turns out that more than 700,000 Children's Health Insurance Program or Medicaid customers may be affected.

According to the Utah Department of Health, around 280,000 individuals had their social security numbers stolen, the records of other victims containing only less sensitive information, such as birth dates and addresses.

Every affected individual will receive notification letters, but those whose files contained their social security numbers will be signed up for credit monitoring services for a period of one year.

The report issued by the organization reveals that the breach may be a result of an error that occurred at the passwords authentication level. Because of the error, the hacker was able to bypass the security system.

“DTS has processes in place to ensure the state’s data is secure, but this particular server was not configured according to normal procedure. DTS has identified where the breakdown occurred and has implemented new processes to ensure this type of breach will not happen again,” the report reads.

The DTS also warns customers to be on the lookout for potentially malicious operations that may leverage the incident.

“Possible victims should be aware that nobody from DTS or UDOH will be contacting them and asking for personal information over the phone or via e-email regarding this incident. Scammers may attempt to reach victims in this manner,” Utah Department of Health representatives state.

Customers are warned that they must not provide sensitive information via phone or email, no matter who the caller or sender may pretend to be.

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