The Finnish psychotherapy company Vastaamo operates 25 private therapy centers in Finland.
Now the company is at the center of a devastating hacker attack which, according to Finnish Yle, can include tens of thousands of private patient records.
The leaks that were leaked contain intimate information about the patients' privacy but also their addresses and full names.
- It is a shock for the whole nation, says SVT's correspondent Hasse Svens who is on site in Finland.
Patients are blackmailed
Hundreds of the records are said to have been posted on websites on the so-called darknet, and the hacker himself states that the leak covers as many as 40,000 records.
Patients, including Social Democrat MP Eeva-Johanna Eloranta, are now testifying about how they were pressured into money by an unknown person who threatened to spread their information to the public.
- They demanded that I pay 500 euros in bitcoins, otherwise they would post the information about me again, says Eloranta to Swedish Radio.
Thousands of patients have now reported the company to the police after the leak and the Riksdag will hold a crisis meeting to handle the situation.
- They will discuss how to be able to help the many victims, says Hasse Svens to Morgonstudion.
The CEO was aware of the intrusion
"The data breach at Vastaamo is shocking and affects us all deeply," Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo wrote on her website on Monday, adding:
"We must not let what happened stop us from seeking help.
Especially not during the corona pandemic, because people are already fighting. ”
The leak is now being investigated by the Finnish police, who classify the incident as gross data breach and extortion, writes Swedish Yle.
Shortly after the news of the data leak, it was revealed that Vastaamo's CEO, Tuomas Kahri, had knowledge of an intrusion into the company's journal system in 2018. On Monday, Kahri was fired from his post.