Hacker accesses Social Security numbers of 71,000 US health care workers

The personal information - including Social Security numbers - of 71,000 Indiana state health care workers were accessed by a hacker in January.

The attacker accessed the data, as well as the credit card information of 5,600 individuals and businesses.

Notification letters have been sent to certified nurse’s aides, medication aides and home health aides, warning them to review credit reports for misuse.

Chris Cotterill, the director of Indiana state's official website, said Indiana officials hired Cybertrust to conduct an audit, and the security issues have been fixed.

Cotteril told SCMagazine.com that state officials have met with the Department of Justice, Indiana State Police, the FBI and the US Secret Service about the breach.

Cotterill also urged victims of the breach to obtain a 90-day credit report and monitor accounts for misuse.

Earlier this month, six Florida residents were arrested for using data stolen in the now-infamous TJX Companies data breach in a multimillion-dollar state-wide credit scam.

TJX, the parent company of Marshalls and T.J. Maxx and other discount retailers was the victim of a hack that breached the personal and financial information of an unknown number of customers in 2005 and again last year.