Hackers breach Montana government server housing 1.3 health records

Only about 1 million individuals live in the state. The affected individuals include residents, people who no longer reside in Montana and people who have died.

Malware was discovered on the state health department computer server May 22 after information technology employees noticed suspicious activity on the machine earlier in the month.

The server held names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers and medical records related to health assessments, diagnoses, treatment, prescriptions and insurance.

Notification letters are now going out to affected individuals or their estates.

About 3,100 department employees and contractors also are being notified because the server contained their bank account information. In addition, roughly 50 years of birth and death certificate information was on the server.

So far, no identity theft has been reported and there is no evidence that any data was stolen.