Hackers broke into the computer systems of University of California Berkeley and accessed the confidential personal health data of students, alumni and staff, university officials confirmed.

 

It is unclear yet whether any information was actually stolen. In the past hackers have used such breaches to obtain confidential information, and to try to control the machines remotely and spread viruses.

 

Infected machines can suffer from what is known as a “slow computer” and may require an overall computer repair.

 

The criminals, who originate in Asia, broke into the university’s health services computer center. The database contains close to 97,000 Social Security numbers, health insurance information, doctors’ names, details of medical visits and birth dates.

 

The main fear is that the criminals will use Social Security numbers to get students’ financial information such as bank and credit card information and that they could be used to open new bank accounts or ask for a new driver’s license.

 

The breach was not discovered for six month until the university’s staff, while performing regular maintenance tasks, discovered messages that were left by the criminals.

“The indications are that the hackers left messages taunting the system administrator that they had broken in,” according to Shelton Waggener, UC Berkeley’s associate vice chancellor for information technology and its chief information officer.