Image via UHC

United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley announced on Friday it was the victim of a data breach incident that apparently began in August.

The Fresno-based federally qualified health center has a couple dozen clinics in the Central Valley. The system delivers about 200,000 medical, dental and other service encounters per year.

On Aug. 28, UHC experienced a disruption to certain computer systems that an investigation a day later determined “was caused by an encryption event.” UHC’s electronic health record system was not impacted.

“UHC worked expeditiously to restore its systems from available backups to avoid an interruption to patient care,” according to a news release.

On Sept. 22, UHC determined that some of its related data had been published to an unindexed website, more commonly known as the “dark web.” Information that may have been impacted includes demographic and clinical information such as names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, diagnosis, provider and medication information.

UHC is currently working with a third-party service provider to confirm the type and full scope of the incident.

“Once UHC has completed its investigation, which includes a detailed review of the potentially impacted data to determine the types of information involved and to whom it relates, UHC will provide written notice directly to impacted individuals,” according to a news release.

UHC encourages individuals to remain vigilant against attempted identify theft and fraud. Visit the UHC incident page for more information.