Dozens of women are suing a Las Vegas plastic surgery clinic after hackers breached their systems and leaked private information, which includes their photos and addresses.
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Hankins & Sohn Plastic Surgery was hacked in February, and the victims affected by the breach said their before-and-after images of breast augmentations, addresses, and other private data were leaked online. According to 8 News Now, the FBI is investigating the cyberattack. Several women have joined a federal class action lawsuit against the clinic, claiming the office did not do enough to protect their data since the images also showed their faces and surgery photos.
The outlet also said that over 12,000 patients could have been impacted by the data breach. Three women said the hackers contacted them directly, stating that their images would be uploaded online if they didn’t send them ransom money.
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In April, the surgery issued a letter to patients addressing the leak and said they became aware of suspicious activity and allegations of a hacker who stole their data.
‘We quickly took steps to investigate the validity of the claims and to assess the nature and scope of the activity and what information may have been affected. We are also working with law enforcement to investigate the activity. We learned that files were taken by the unknown actor prior to this date.’
The FBI said in July that a website with a Russian domain appeared on the internet with the patient’s images and data, but it was removed. In October, the hackers claimed the clinic continued to “ignore” the situation and uploaded a new website.
‘Mr. Hankins and Mr. Sohn continue to ignore the situation, we suppose they’re listening to some ‘experts’ and other ‘specialists’ opinions. It must be taken into account that it’s a huge number of clients and inevitably winnable cases for lawyers, so they will surely be advising not to engage into a dialogue with us.’
In response to the lawsuit, the surgeon’s attorney said they were “devastated” by the incident: ‘Hankins and Sohn Plastic Surgery is devastated by the data breach which occurred at the hands of third-party criminal actors. Both our patients and our practice are suffering due to this intentional criminal activity. We continue to work with the FBI and other agencies to protect patient information and also to bring these bad actors to justice.’
