Cancer patients continue to face blackmail threats weeks after Fred Hutch hack
Dec 15, 2023, 12:13 PM
A sign outside the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle can be seen in December 2023. (Image courtesy of 成人X站 7)
(Image courtesy of 成人X站 7)
The fallout continues from a massive data breach at聽the.聽Hackers cracked into the health center鈥檚 servers and stole patient鈥檚 personal information.聽Now they鈥檙e blackmailing those patients for ransom.
One Fred Hutch patient, Jenny Stewart says she can鈥檛 believe someone would target people who are already in the fight of their lives.
鈥淒ays with appointments at Fred Hutch were very long, it鈥檚 exhausting,鈥� said Stewart. She added, 鈥淚t was four months of chemo, and then every three months I had to follow up for the first year.鈥�
Jenny Stewart battled Stage 4 Hodgkin鈥檚 Lymphoma at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.聽She says that treatment is the reason she鈥檚 alive today.
鈥淎ll the doctors are wonderful.聽It was really sad walking in the building and seeing people from all walks of life, all demographics and ages suffering through cancer,鈥� she said.
In 2022, Fred Hutch helped about 53,000 people with a cancer diagnosis, fight to live another day.聽Now those same people are under another attack from hackers that cracked into the Cancer Center鈥檚 servers on November 19th.
Jenny said she learned about that breach from an email Fred Hutch sent her.聽That email also warned her a ransom email may be in her inbox.
鈥淚 just searched the words Fred Hutch and up popped the email from the hacker, it was a ransom email.鈥澛燡enny added, 鈥淭hey had some pretty specific information in there with the cyber-attack and how much money they wanted in exchange for me protecting my credit and my information.鈥�
She deleted her email immediately and didn鈥檛 pay the ransom.聽In another ransom email 成人X站 7 obtained previously, the subject line reads, 鈥淸FREDHUTCH] QUINLAN NICHOLAS Your private data and medical history is being sold on dark net markets.鈥�
It also says Quinlan is one of 800,000 patients whose 鈥渘ames, SSN, addresses, phone numbers, medical history, lab results, and insurance history,鈥� is compromised.
The fee to keep that information off the dark web is $50.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 disgusting that they鈥檇 take advantage of cancer patients of all people, people who are struggling at the worst time of their lives,鈥� said Stewart.
She also says, that even after this breach, she still trusts Fred Hutch with her life and her personal information.
鈥淲hat I鈥檝e done is I鈥檝e already frozen my credit and I鈥檓 doing more frequent checks of my statements and accounts just to keep an eye on it.聽 I鈥檝e been a patient there for so long and I still trust them. I think these cyber-attacks can happen anywhere and it鈥檚 eye-opening,鈥� Stewart explained.
Fred Hutch is still working to find out how many patients had their information leaked in the breach.聽If you got a ransom email Fred Hutch says not to pay that ransom and to report it on the聽
