CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / BERKELEY
UC Berkeley officials said Friday that hackers infiltrated restricted computer databases, putting at risk Social Security numbers and personal information on 160,000 students, alumni and others.
The university said data include health insurance information and some medical records dating back to 1999. Personal medical records -- such as patient diagnoses, treatments and therapies -- were not compromised, officials said. All those possibly affected have been contacted by the university, officials said.
The server breach occurred Oct. 6, 2008 and lasted until April 9, when campus staff performing routine maintenance found taunting messages that the university said were left by the hackers.
The school said it had traced the hackers’ computers to a number of overseas locations, including China, and turned that information over to the FBI and campus police.
An outside Internet security firm has also been hired to conduct an audit of the university’s systems and information security measures.
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