More Than 530,000 Patients Notified In Data Ransom Scare

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.darkreading.com/database_security/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217701702

By Tim Wilson
DarkReading
June 03, 2009

Virginia officials are notifying more than a half-million residents that 
their Social Security numbers may have been contained in a prescription 
drug database that was targeted by a computer hacker April 30.

According to a news report, a criminal investigation has not yet 
determined what, if any, personal information was put at risk in the 
incident, according to Sandra Whitley Ryals, director of the Virginia 
Department of Health Professions.

Nevertheless, the state is mailing individual notifications to 530,000 
people whose prescription records may have contained Social Security 
numbers, Ryals said.

The hacker gained access to the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program 
computer system, which is designed to deter prescription drug abuse, and 
demanded a $10 million ransom. The hacker has not been found.

[...]


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