University of Hawai'i Cancer Center Data Breach
Last Updated on March 23, 2026
At A Glance
- What's Going On?
- Attorneys need to hear from people affected by the UH Cancer Center data breach as they investigate whether a class action lawsuit can be filed.
- Does This Cost Anything?
- It costs nothing to get in touch or to talk to someone about your rights.
- What Can I Get?
- If filed and successful, a class action lawsuit could provide consumers with money for any harm resulting from the UH Cancer Center breach.
UH Cancer Center Data Breach: Lawsuit Investigation
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are looking into whether a class action lawsuit can be filed in light of the UH Cancer Center data breach.
As part of their investigation, they need to hear from individuals who had their information exposed in the incident, including those who received notice of the UH Cancer Center data breach or otherwise believe they are affected.
UH Cancer Center Security Incident: What Happened?
The University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center’s Epidemiology Division has disclosed a cyberattack that was discovered around August 31, 2025 and potentially affected approximately 87,493 Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) Study participants and around 1.15 million individuals from other records.
According to the notice posted to the UH Cancer Center website, the affected data comes from files stored on servers that support the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center’s epidemiology recruiting and research efforts.
Two files held names paired with Social Security numbers. The first file contained driver’s license numbers collected in 2000 from the State Department of Transportation. At the time these files were created, Hawaii driver's license numbers were typically based on SSNs. The second file contained voter registration data from 1998 from the City & County of Honolulu. At the time, government entities provided such lists to help researchers find participants for large health studies.
Further, participants from MEC (from 1993 to 1996) and other dietary and cancer studies (from 1994-2007) were also impacted. These records included names with SSNs or driver’s license numbers, as well as potentially health-related study data.
Moreover, two files with SSNs and names from national and state public health registries, closed to new names by 1999 and the mid-2000s respectively, may have included additional health information.
Notification letters were sent to identified MEC participants on February 23, and the university is reaching out to others via email, public announcements, and a dedicated Cyberattack Information and Resource Website.
The UH Cancer Center is the only research organization in the Pacific designated by the National Cancer Institute.
What You Can Do After the UH Cancer Center Data Breach
If your information was exposed in the UH Cancer Center data breach, attorneys want to hear from you. You may be able to start a class action lawsuit to recover compensation for loss of privacy, time spent dealing with the breach, out-of-pocket costs, and more.
A successful case could also force UH Cancer Center to ensure they take proper steps to protect the information they were entrusted with.
UH Cancer Center Data Breach Notice
Published: March 5, 2026
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