DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Hackers potentially accessed protected health information for 820 people following an email scam at an Iowa agency.
The Iowa Department of Human Services says in a press release Friday that hackers sent so-called phishing emails to agency employees on Aug. 23. Nine DHS workers inadvertently provided passwords that gave hackers access to their email accounts.
DHS says it has no evidence indicating the hackers actually accessed the exposed emails. The scam was discovered on the same day, and the impacted employees changed their passwords shortly afterward.
The department says all individuals potentially affected are being notified by mail and will be offered up to a year of credit monitoring at no charge.
The agency says it’s implementing changes to prevent similar incidents in the future.
