Hacker gains access to UNC Health email account: 10,000 affected

Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health and Chapel Hill School of Medicine begin notifying 10,832 patients that their data may be exposed in a data breach.

Six details:

1. On May 20, the medical school and UNC Hospitals discovered an unauthorized party may have gained access to a medical school faculty member's email account, according to a July 19 news release.
   
   
2. The faculty member provided clinical services at UNC Hospitals. UNC Health secured the email account and launched an investigation.
   
   
3. The investigation determined the access was limited to April 20, but messages or attachments in the email account contained patient names, birthdates, medical diagnoses and other medical-related information.
   
   
4. Health insurance information was identified for less than 30 patients, and Social Security numbers were identified for less than 10 patients. There is no indication other email accounts were involved or accessed, according to the news release.
   
   
5. On July 19, the medical school and UNC Hospitals began mailing letters to affected patients.
   
   
6. A spokesperson for UNC Health told Becker's that to date, there is no indication that patient information has been misused.

Note: The article was updated Aug. 4 to include the number of people reportedly affected by the data breach.