Sued hospital over ransomware that leaked nude photos of her

A ransomware under the name BlackCat (also known as ALPHV) hacked into one of the Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) in Pennsylvania, stole images of patients undergoing treatment for radiation oncology, as well as other sensitive medical records belonging to more than 75,000 people, and then demanded a ransom. to decrypt the files and prevent me from posting health data online.

This led to a lawsuit against the hospital by a cancer patient who claimed that her nude medical photos were leaked online.

LVHN refused to pay the ransom, and earlier this month BlackCat began leaking patient information, including nude images of at least two breast cancer patients.

“This shameless criminal act is using patients receiving cancer treatment and the LVHN condemns this heinous behavior,” LVHN spokesman Brian Downes said at the time.

on demand [PDF] filed this week, here’s how one of the patients, identified as “Jane Doe”, found out about the data breach and how LVHN originally stored nude images of her on their network.

“Because LVHN maintains and maintains the confidential information of the plaintiff and the class, including nude photographs of the plaintiff receiving delicate cancer treatment, LVHN knew or should have known of the serious risk and harm that could be caused by a data breach,” the lawsuit states. .

He alleges that the LVHN has been negligent in its duty to protect sensitive patient information, and is seeking to determine the status of a class action for all those whose data has been disclosed, with monetary damages.

Pennsylvania attorney Patrick Howard, who represents Doe and the rest of the plaintiffs in the proposed class-action lawsuit, said he expects the number of patients affected by the breach to be in the “hundreds, if not thousands.”