Comment from F-Secure - Finland therapy centre hack involving patient blackmail
October 2020 by F-Secure
Over the weekend Vastaamo, a prominent psycho a therapy centre in Finland, was hacked and the patients’ personal details used for blackmail. According to F-Secure, this is the first ever case of ransomware being used to blackmail private individuals on this scale. In the event that you are planning to expand further on this news the following commentary may be attributed to my client Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer, F-Secure:
”I’ve seen a lot, but I haven’t seen this. Tens of thousands of victims are blackmailed with the publication of highly private information. I don’t think there’s a crime in our criminal history which would have more victims than this one.
To get justice to the victims, I’d like nothing more than to get the person behind this arrested. However, I’d also like to see the Vastaamo clinic to be held responsible for failing to protect critical patient data.
The patients and the therapists did nothing wrong. They are innocent but they pay the highest price.”