University of San Diego Health Says Personal Information Stolen in Data Breach

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University of San Diego Health this week revealed that personal information was accessed in a data breach involving unauthorized access to some employee email accounts.

In a substitute notification, UC San Diego Health revealed that an unknown threat actor accessed or acquired the affected data between December 2, 2020 and April 8, 2021. However, the healthcare organization was initially alerted to suspicious activity on March 12, when it launched an investigation into the claim.

The compromised data pertained to patients, students and employees, and includes names, addresses, birth dates, email addresses, fax numbers, claims information, lab results, medical identifiers, medical diagnosis, medical information, treatment details, Social Security numbers, government identification numbers, student ID numbers, payment card information, and usernames and passwords.

The healthcare organization says that it terminated the unauthorized access to the compromised accounts immediately after confirming the breach, and that it has also taken remediation steps, including changing employee credentials and disabling access points, as well as improving its security procedures.

“There is no evidence that other UC San Diego Health systems were impacted, nor do we have any evidence at this time that the information has been misused,” the organization said.

UC San Diego Health has already started notifying the affected students, employees, and patients, where contact details are available. The organization also reported the matter to law enforcement.

“This breach is an example of the personal sensitive information that can be violated by outside attackers within healthcare organizations such as medical diagnosis and conditions, medical record numbers, prescription information, social security numbers, financial account information. With such incredibly sensitive data at stake to cyber attackers, healthcare organizations should fortify their security posture,” Bugcrowd CTO and founder Casey Ellis said in an emailed comment.