French investigators probe massive hack of medical records
French cybercrime investigators said Thursday they were investigating the leak of the medical data of nearly half a million people, including such highly confidential information as their HIV and fertility status.
The leak of the data, believed to have been stolen by
hackers, was discovered by the Zataz cybersecurity blog, which came across the
document on encrypted messaging system Telegram in a group used for illicit
trade in stolen databases.
It was later made freely available on the web.
AFP has confirmed the existence of the leaked file, which
contains 491 840 names of patients, together with their address, telephone
number, email and social security number and in some cases their blood group.
The file also contains highly confidential information about
some of the patients' health, including pregnancies or fertility problems,
underlying conditions such as HIV, and medication prescribed.
The Paris prosecutor's office in charge of probing
cybercrime told AFP it had opened an investigation into the leak on Wednesday.
The investigation on "the fraudulent access to, and
maintenance of an automated data processing system" as well as the
"fraudulent extraction, holding and sharing" of the data, the
prosecutors said.
Liberation newspaper reported that the file was based on
data from tests conducted between 2015 and October 2020 in around 30 clinic
laboratories, mostly situated in northwest France.
The Zataz journalist, who revealed the leak, claimed that
the file had been made public after hackers fell out over the terms of the sale
of the document.
Hospitals, laboratories and medical websites are a growing
target of cyberattacks.
President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month announced a
1-billion-euro programme to combat cybercrime, including in the medical sector.
Comments
Post a Comment