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– The management of medical information is a big problem, because companies store such private information about our lives, says Mikko Hyppönen, research director of the data security company F-Secure.
The fact that it is precisely such sensitive information, with information on everything from private relationships to mental health, makes this leak one of the worst in Finnish history, says Hyppönen.
– We have a lot to learn from this leak, he says.
It was at the end of September that the Vastaamo psychotherapy company reported to the police that they had been subjected to data intrusion and extortion.
The hackers demanded the company 40 bitcoins, equivalent to around 4.5 million SEK, for not publishing the magazines on the darknet, a part of the network where users are anonymous. After Vastamoo refused, records began to leak and patients had to pay ransoms to remove the information.
The Central Criminal Police is now investigating the case as a serious data breach, outright extortion, and crude dissemination of information that violates privacy.
Experts in volunteer networks, the so-called “white hat hackers”, are now helping the police to locate and identify those behind the intrusion. IT security expert Benjamin Särkkä, who knows several affected people, is one of those helping.
– If they have made a mistake and we discover it, we will refer it to the authorities, he says.
On Sunday night, the government met to discuss new measures.
– The most important thing now is to help and support the victims in all possible ways, said Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo after the meeting.
Meet on wednesday concerned ministers again to later discuss cyber security and how to prevent such things from happening in the future.
