According to officials, the breach was discovered on Sept. 25 when an employee observed unusual activity on a computer suggesting that someone may have been remotely accessing it without authorization.
"We very much regret that this incident occurred and the impact it may have on our Waipahu Clubhouse members," said Dr. Bill Sheehan, Chief of the Adult Mental Health Division. "As soon as we discovered this possible security breach, the department acted quickly and ordered a forensic examination of the computer. Although we have no evidence of the information being used for a wrongful or unlawful purpose, the department is taking every precaution to notify all those affected. Immediate steps were also taken to prevent this from reoccurring."
The DOH says about 600 former and registered members of the Clubhouse are being notified by mail of the possible security breach.
Officials say information contained on the computer dated back to 1997 and included names, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers, consumer record numbers, and some social security numbers of members.
"Many of the affected Waipahu Aloha Clubhouse members may have changed their mailing addresses since registering with the program as far back as 1997. Because we may not be able to reach these families by mail, we hope the public will help us to get the word out," said Dr. Bill Sheehan.
At this time, the DOH is unaware of any illegal activity resulting from the information breach.
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
