As many as 27,000 employees affected in data breach

As seen on The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

April 18–Personal information about as many as 27,000 UPMC workers may have been compromised in a data breach and identify theft scheme that the hospital system first confirmed in February, UPMC officials said Thursday.

New estimates released by UPMC also show at least 788 workers fell victim to tax fraud in the ordeal, up from a March projection that as many as 322 employees might have been affected.

The data reveal more than a third of the 62,000 people who work at the health care giant could be affected by the breach, which remains under federal investigation.

“We take this crime very seriously,” UPMC spokeswoman Gloria Kreps said late Thursday. “We alerted authorities immediately after we discovered and confirmed unauthorized access and have been putting our full resources behind efforts to investigate and secure our systems.”

Kreps said patient data remain safe as UPMC works with the IRS, Secret Service and other federal officials to identify the source of the problem. She said the open investigation limited how much detail she could share.

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