The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center has settled a class-action lawsuit for $52.5 million following a November 2023 cyberattack. Hackers stole sensitive patient data and used it for extreme extortion tactics, including threats of swatting—false emergency claims aimed at patients. The hackers directly threatened patients via email, citing their personal information to demand payments. This case has raised concerns about the severity of cybercriminal tactics, including the rare but dangerous linkage of cyberattacks to physical threats against individuals.
The cybercriminals sending these emails demand that patients pay them to prevent the sale of that data.... The threatening emails also include specific examples of the personal data stolen and exposed for each individual recipient of the email.
However, tactics like sending threatening emails to and calling in fake bomb threats to patients' homes aren't unheard of - Karakurt has been known to be similarly aggressive in the past - but instances of swattings being linked to cyberattacks are much more of a rarity.
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