NEW YORK
-- A New York City hospital has apologized for a security lapse that allowed personal information belonging to as many as 6,800 former patients to be published on the Internet.
New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center said the information included names, clinical data and a few Social Security numbers.
The hospital said in a statement Monday that the data had been inadvertently placed on a server that was accessible online. The information has now been taken down.
The New York Times first reported the story. The newspaper said the security lapse happened in July.
The hospital said it deeply regretted the breach and would contact all the people affected by it. No evidence exists that any of the personal data has been used improperly.
