TheDarkOverlord honors threat, exposes 180,000 patient records

The hacker had warned Aesthetic Dentistry and OC Gastrocare in 2016 to pay to keep the records private, but the extortion attempt failed.
By Jessica Davis
02:33 PM

Dark Web hacker TheDarkOverlord has released 180,000 patient records from three hacks, DataBreaches.net revealed Thursday.

More than 3,400 patient records were released from New York City-based Aesthetic Dentistry, 34,100 from California’s OC Gastocare and 142,000 Tampa Bay Surgery Center.

TDO used a Twitter account to post a link to a site that allows any user to download the patient databases from these organizations. The hacker has a history of using Twitter to shame the organizations he or she has breached.

[Also: Indiana Cancer Agency hacked by TheDarkOverlord]

The hacker warned Aesthetic Dentistry and OC Gastrocare in the fall on Twitter that he or she was in possession of the data as a means to extort these organizations into paying to keep the data private. 

Many of the databases contained a trove of patient data including medical conditions, insurer details and, for some, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and payment information.

None of these organizations appear on the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of  Civil Rights’ Breach Portal.

In 2016, TDO breached Little Red Door Cancer Services of East Indiana, PilotFish, Athens Orthopedic Clinic and Peachtree Orthopedics last year - among others. TDO also breached an unnamed health insurer and listed 9.3 million records for sale on the dark web in 2016.

Most recently, TDO released the newest season of Netflix’ show Orange is the New Black, which won’t be released until the summer.

Twitter: @JessieFDavis
Email the writer: jessica.davis@himssmedia.com


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