Hackers make dog's dinner of vet school security

Hackers have broken into computers at the Davis School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California and accessed the personal accounts of more than 1,100 students.

Investigators at the Sacramento-based university revealed that account details of students from the 2007-2008 class were illegally accessed last month. The hacked data included names, birth dates and Social Security numbers.

Unconfirmed reports suggested that data from 375 students from the 2004/2005 intake year may also have been hacked.

Police are investigating the unauthorised access and whether the personal data has been used for identity theft.

Geoff Sweeney, chief technology officer at behavioural analysis firm Tier-3, said: "Early indications are that the University had all the usual IT security applications in place, but these clearly were not enough to stop the hackers."