Live in Utah? There's a 1 in 6 Chance You've Been Hacked

State officials increase numbers for recent data breach
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 10, 2012 8:39 AM CDT
Live in Utah? There's a 1 in 6 Chance You've Been Hacked
One in six Utahns had personal data breached in a recent hacking.   (Shutterstock)

Almost 800,000 Utah residents—that's one in six people in the state—have been affected by a data breach exposing information including Social Security numbers, names, and dates of birth. Hackers broke into a Utah Department of Health computer server on March 30, and the breach was initially thought to have affected just 24,000 Utahns, but state officials upped that estimate dramatically yesterday, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

The breach affects people on public health insurance, 280,000 of whom had their Social Security numbers exposed to hackers. Another 500,000 had names, birth dates, or other less sensitive information leaked. The victims most likely are people who sought medical care in the last four months, a Medicaid official says; their information was stored on a server that an employee accidentally put online without proper security. The FBI is investigating the breach, and victims will be notified by mail. (More Utah stories.)

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