Be careful, danger. Switzerland discovered the hacking of medical data in early 2022, when a Neuchâtel practice was hacked and the data of thousands of patients stolen. These days, it is France which has an insight into the theft of this very sensitive data.
Thus, five health establishments in France (two of which are in operation, three of which have since closed) are affected by the data leak from the Aleo Santé group which could concern thousands of patients. On a site for reselling stolen data, an anonymous user offered for sale the personal data of patients treated by the Aleo Santé group, claiming to have the data of 758,912 people.
And these are very sensitive data which are a priori in nature: surnames, first names, email and postal addresses and dates of birth, medical information such as the identity of the treating doctor or prescriptions, etc.
We remember that very recently, in the United States, the cyberattack against the insurer Change Healthcare led to the theft of sensitive data of 100 million people, including medical diagnoses.
These cases, which risk causing considerable damage – imagine the patients whose pathologies are published online… – must serve as a new warning for the entire health chain. Hospitals, clinics, insurers, pharmacies, all are prime targets for hackers, who know very well that this data is worth gold – and sometimes, these targets agree to pay ransoms. The health sector must become aware of its great vulnerability.
