Hackers broke into the computer databases of the University of California-Berkeley's health services center, compromising about 160,000 student health records, including 3,400 students from Mills College. The all-female school's healthcare is tied to Berkeley's, according to PC World [1].

The United Kingdom's Register reports [2]:

The University admitted the breach on Friday but said that medical treatment records were not exposed by the hack, even though other sensitive information, such as social security numbers and appointment diaries, was left up for grabs. Electronic medical records are stored on a system separate from the network affected by the breach ...

The breach is believed to have begun during October of last year and continued until April 9, when administrators discovered messages left by the hackers. The hack attack, reports PC World, came from overseas.

"Patient privacy and quality care are cornerstones of our services," Steve Lustig, associate vice chancellor for health and human services at Berkeley, told PC World. He added, "We anticipate that the audit of our systems will inform UHS and the campus of steps that can be taken to continually improve security."