A breach of network security impacted thousands of people on Thursday at the oldest and largest online medical information service devoted to veterinary medicine.
The Veterinary Information Network sent an email to members which explained likely mechanisms that manifested the breach of VIN Security. The breach was described in as much detail as possible with information known at the release time of the announcement. Members were initially reassured.
“…according to what we currently know (and we are about 99% confident in that knowledge), you WERE NOT impacted by a breach of VIN security earlier today.”
All VIN members were advised to change their VIN passwords. Members were also reminded that passwords should always be unique for each separate online account.
The email additionally stated:
“This intrusion was detected by systems in place to track and record any suspicious access. We are currently going through the logs from these systems to determine the precise information accessed. We have confirmed that the invaders got NOWHERE NEAR ANY PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION. Rest assured, all financial information in the system is encrypted.”
“No veterinary students or recent graduates were impacted. No information about members of other organizations (conferences or associations) working with VIN was impacted.”
The breach was described as impacting about 2500 active VIN members and approximately the same number of inactive members.
The network’s management also plan to update and address any
questions related to the incident or any related issue in this VIN message board discussion:
http://www.vin.com/Link.plx?ID=5350022
