Toyota Industries North America (TINA) has discovered that a hacker was able to access its corporate email system, compromising the personal and protected health information of approximately 19,000 individuals, apparently most of whom were employees.

The data that was potentially compromised included health insurance information, names, addresses, dates of birth, financial information, Social Security numbers, photographs of Social Security cards, and more than 12 additional data elements.

The access is reported to have occurred through the email system, which is common these days, particularly if multi factor authentication is not implemented.

TINA noted that it will enhance data security training, implement multi-factor authentication, improve security monitoring and implement mandatory password protections.