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UNM Cancer Center patients’ personal information may have been accessed by hackers, who attacked the center’s server in July.
Center officials said as many as 2,365 patients’ information, including Social Security numbers, names and addresses, may have been accessed. The attack occurred July 17 and all affected patients were notified Wednesday, after investigations were conducted to figure out who may have been affected.
UNM Health Sciences Center Communication and Marketing Executive Director Billy Sparks said no evidence has suggested that any of the information has been used. He said that although the information was hacked, forensic analysis concluded electronic medical records and financial information were not accessed.
“The UNM Health Sciences Center and the UNM Cancer Center take this incident very seriously,” he said. “We are very sorry that this unauthorized access occurred.”
Sparks said protecting privacy is the center’s priority and that HSC will continue to find ways to improve security measures. He said the center fixed the server to prevent similar attacks and will hold an internal and external risk analysis of information technology systems to address any other problems in the system.
Sparks said UNM HSC has hired ID Experts, a company that specializes in computer data attacks, to provide services to the affected patients.
For more information, or to find out if you were affected, contact ID Experts at 1-866-940-3615.
