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AUGH. I may as well have told that Nigerian prince my social security number when he asked me.

Dear Associate of Your University,

We are writing to you because Your University's health
center recently learned that criminal computer hackers broke
into electronic databases containing personal information belonging to
some clients and their parents or spouses.

Although the investigation is still underway, we wanted to alert you
as soon as possible that some of your personal information, including
your Social Security number stored on those databases, was stolen,
which puts you at risk for identity theft. It is also possible that
your parents or guardian or spouse`s information was taken if you
waived enrollment in the student health insurance plan, and they were
the policy holder of your health coverage.

In addition, the criminals may have stolen information related to your
health insurance coverage and some of your non-treatment medical
information such as Hepatitis B immunization history, medical
record number, dates of visits or names of providers seen, or for
participants in the Education Abroad Program, certain information from
the self-reported health history. You will receive a second
notification letter from us if, in addition to your Social Security
number, this information was also stolen.

Please be assured that the electronic medical records, including
patient diagnoses, treatments and therapies, are stored in a separate
system and were not affected in this incident.

We sincerely regret and apologize for any difficulty that this theft
may create for you. We have alerted campus police detectives and the
FBI, and we are doing all that we can to investigate this crime. We
are also dedicated to assisting you with information about the
incident and services that can help prevent or minimize the impact
this theft may have on you.

Sigh. Bad things, they happen, and they may keep happening.

Full post as published by Law and Letters on May 08, 2009 (boomark / email).