Hospital network of the University of California, Los Angeles was broke out by a team of hackers resulting in access of sensitive records of 4.5 million people.
According to the university, the data stolen includes names, Medical information, Medicare numbers, health plan IDs, Social Security numbers, birthdays and physical addresses.
This breach could have affected people’s who has visited, or worked at the university's medical network, UCLA Health, that includes its four hospitals and 150 offices across Southern California.
The first attempt to hack the network was done in September 2014. UCLA Health announced on Friday - two months after it discovered the data breach. The university network alarm "detected suspicious activity," and UCLA Health called in the FBI for help.
"At that time, it did not appear that the attackers had gained access to the parts of the network that contain personal and medical information," UCLA Health said in a statement.
The hospital group is now notifying staff and patients, and offering them one year of identity theft recovery services.
Dr. James Atkinson, UCLA Hospital System's president, apologized to the public in a statement. And noted that hospital group is under constant attack from all over the world.
Organizations handling such kind of sensitive information should not only have physical security but also have a proper Cyber security protection. Organizations should understand importance of Cyber security before they fall victim to cyber attacks.
