Australia – After Attacking Medical Center, Hackers Leak Patients’ Abortion Details to the Dark Web

In a disgusting move, cybercriminals published the personal medical details of individual patients to the internet this week.

By Lucas Ropek
November 11, 2022

After attacking a major healthcare provider in Australia earlier this year, cybercriminals dumped a large selection of data to the internet this week, including customers’ personal health information. The leak reportedly includes sensitive documents related to some patients’ medical procedures, including pregnancies and abortions.

The victim, health insurance giant Medibank, was compromised by ransomware hackers earlier this year. The gang asked the company for a ransom of nearly $10 million, but the company refused. After negotiations broke down, the criminals began publishing portions of the stolen data to the internet this week, including information about the company’s customers.

Continued: https://gizmodo.com/after-attacking-medical-center-hackers-leak-patients-a-1849774993

11.11.2022

USA – ‘Lock it down right now’: Abortion rights advocates prepare for a new wave of digital security threats

Advocates and abortion providers are reassessing their digital security practices ahead of an expected rise in cyberattacks and surveillance.

by SAM SABIN
06/17/2022

Abortion rights groups are using software that protects privacy and are honing other strategies to combat digital threats that they expect will worsen in a post-Roe world.

Those efforts are gaining new urgency as a looming Supreme Court ruling threatens to open a new wave of security threats for people seeking abortions and their health care providers.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/17/abortion-rights-advocates-digital-security-threats-00040654

USA – Why Abortion Access Organizations Are Suing Anti-Choice Internet Trolls

Why Abortion Access Organizations Are Suing Anti-Choice Internet Trolls

Melanie Ehrenkranz
May 9, 2018

For grassroots pro-choice organizations, visibility is a double-edged sword. This was especially clear during the National Abortion Access Bowl-a-Thon cyberattack two years ago. For the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), which led the event, more visibility meant the potential to raise more money to help those in need of abortion access. It also made them a target of vitriolic anti-choice trolls.

During the 2016 Bowl-a-Thon, trolls pledged $66 billion in fraudulent donations, took down the fundraiser website with a DDoS attack, and created fake donor pages to phish for supporters’ personal information. Fake fundraising accounts included names like “qwerty,” “adolph hitler,” and “holifuk.” Forensics reports also indicate that ahead of the cyberattack, hackers placed malicious code on the fundraising website which allowed them to gather donors’ personal information and credit card details from a payment page, according to a complaint filed by NNAF.

continued: https://gizmodo.com/why-abortion-access-organizations-are-suing-anti-choice-1825514431

USA: The Disturbing Rise of Cyberattacks Against Abortion Clinics

The Disturbing Rise of Cyberattacks Against Abortion Clinics
Rebecca Grant
Oct 5, 2017

Fatimah Gifford was nervous the day she was scheduled to testify in front of Texas’ Health and Human Services committee. Gifford is the VP of Communications for Whole Woman’s Health, which operates five reproductive healthcare clinics across Texas. This wasn’t her first time testifying before the state legislature, but it was her first time testifying about abortion.

“I entered into this with eyes wide open, and knowing that I was more than likely going to be devoured up in there,” she says.

Continued: https://www.wired.com/story/cyberattacks-against-abortion-clinics/