Dental college computer hacked

GAINSVILLE, Fla., Nov. 13 (UPI) -- The University of Florida College of Dentistry says a computer hacker accessed the records of more than 344,000 patients.

The data included dental information, names, addresses, Social Security numbers and birth dates of patients dating back to 1990, The Gainsville (Fla.) Sun reported Thursday.

The breach was discovered last month during a routine upgrade of the computer server, said Melanie Fridl Ross, a college spokeswoman, adding there is no evidence the information has been used for fraudulent purposes.

"It's sort of like someone coming home and finding that their door is open, but it's unclear if any valuables have been taken," she said.

Not counting the dental school breach, the university has experienced 16 computer security breaches in the last year which exposed personal information on more than 12,000 current and former students, the Sun reported.