Planned Parenthood hack may expose millions of people's sensitive health data

A branch of Planned Parenthood has confirmed a ransomware group has gained access to it systems and stolen millions of people's sensitive data.

2

The CEO and president of Planned Parenthood of Montana, Martha Fuller, said in a recent statement to Recorded Future News the attack was internally discovered on August 28. Following the discovery the IT team at Planned Parenthood Montana responded by taking portions of their network offline, presumably as part of the investigation into the attack and to prevent any further known/unknown exploits in its system.

Fuller added that the organization is aware of the ransomware group known as RansomHub, which, upon a quick Google search, you will discover, is quite prolific in the space despite it only first appearing earlier this year. Reports indicate the hackers made off with 93GB of data, but when a spokesperson from Planned Parenthood was asked what the contents of that data were, they declined to comment.

Additionally, the spokesperson declined to comment on what Planned Parenthood has done to help the people whose data has now been stolen. However, authorities have been notified, and an investigation has been launched.

"We have reported this incident to federal law enforcement, and will support their investigation. We also want to thank our providers and health center staff, for working to minimize any operational disruptions and continue providing care to our patients. We appreciate our community's patience and understanding as we work to address this incident," said Fuller

• Read more: Scientists confirm if mobile phones can cause brain cancer