Even for veterans of cybercriminal investigations, the recent extortion of a psychotherapy practice in Finland has been unusual — and disturbing. Rather than sticking only to the common tactic of trying to shake down a breached organization, the attackers who stole tens of thousands of patient records from Vastaamo also demanded ransoms from individual people. In doing so, the thieves have been leveraging some of the most sensitive medical data imaginable, and making it difficult for victims to respond collectively. “Therapeutic notes are at a different level of privacy problems,” said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at Finnish cybersecurity company F-Secure. “I know of a handful of cases where patients were blackmailed for their health data, but those were much smaller breaches. There’s never been a crime in Finland with so many victims as in this one.” While the incident has rocked Finland, prompting an emergency government meeting and costing Vastaamo’s CEO his job, […]
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