Vastaamo Data Breach: What & How It Happened?
Twingate Team
•
Jun 28, 2024
Vastaamo, a Finnish private psychotherapy service provider, experienced a data breach that was revealed in October 2020. The breach involved unauthorized access to the company's database, resulting in extortion attempts. The security vulnerabilities that allowed the breach occurred between November 2018 and March 2019. This incident underscored the necessity of strong security measures to protect sensitive information, especially in the healthcare sector.
How many accounts were compromised?
The breach impacted data related to around 30,000 individuals.
What data was leaked?
The data exposed in the breach included private information of psychotherapy patients, such as full names, home addresses, email addresses, social security numbers, names of the clinics where they received treatments, therapists' and doctors' notes from each session, and personal details from therapy sessions.
How was Vastaamo hacked?
Hackers breached Vastaamo's patient database through a cyberattack, exploiting inadequate security practices such as unencrypted and non-anonymized sensitive data and a system root without a defined password. The security flaws persisted from November 2018 to March 2019, allowing unauthorized access to private information of psychotherapy patients and employees.
Vastaamo's solution
In response to the hack, Vastaamo's specific enhanced security measures remain unclear. However, the Finnish government held meetings to address cybersecurity issues and create new legislation regarding data security and identity thefts. Various Finnish organizations established ways to help the victims, including direct dial-in numbers to churches and therapy services. The Finnish central government requested that government agencies ensure the processing and handling of personal information is secure to minimize the leakage of personal data.
How do I know if I was affected?
Vastaamo has not publicly disclosed whether they reached out to affected users. However, individuals concerned about their data can visit Have I Been Pwned to check if their credentials were compromised in the breach.
What should affected users do?
In general, affected users should:
Change Your Passwords: Immediately update your passwords for any accounts that may have been compromised. Make sure the new passwords are strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.
Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on any affected accounts. Consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
For more specific help and instructions related to Vastaamo's data breach, please contact Victim Support Finland directly.
Where can I go to learn more?
If you want to find more information on the Vastaamo data breach, check out the following news articles:
Rapidly implement a modern Zero Trust network that is more secure and maintainable than VPNs.
Vastaamo Data Breach: What & How It Happened?
Twingate Team
•
Jun 28, 2024
Vastaamo, a Finnish private psychotherapy service provider, experienced a data breach that was revealed in October 2020. The breach involved unauthorized access to the company's database, resulting in extortion attempts. The security vulnerabilities that allowed the breach occurred between November 2018 and March 2019. This incident underscored the necessity of strong security measures to protect sensitive information, especially in the healthcare sector.
How many accounts were compromised?
The breach impacted data related to around 30,000 individuals.
What data was leaked?
The data exposed in the breach included private information of psychotherapy patients, such as full names, home addresses, email addresses, social security numbers, names of the clinics where they received treatments, therapists' and doctors' notes from each session, and personal details from therapy sessions.
How was Vastaamo hacked?
Hackers breached Vastaamo's patient database through a cyberattack, exploiting inadequate security practices such as unencrypted and non-anonymized sensitive data and a system root without a defined password. The security flaws persisted from November 2018 to March 2019, allowing unauthorized access to private information of psychotherapy patients and employees.
Vastaamo's solution
In response to the hack, Vastaamo's specific enhanced security measures remain unclear. However, the Finnish government held meetings to address cybersecurity issues and create new legislation regarding data security and identity thefts. Various Finnish organizations established ways to help the victims, including direct dial-in numbers to churches and therapy services. The Finnish central government requested that government agencies ensure the processing and handling of personal information is secure to minimize the leakage of personal data.
How do I know if I was affected?
Vastaamo has not publicly disclosed whether they reached out to affected users. However, individuals concerned about their data can visit Have I Been Pwned to check if their credentials were compromised in the breach.
What should affected users do?
In general, affected users should:
Change Your Passwords: Immediately update your passwords for any accounts that may have been compromised. Make sure the new passwords are strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.
Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on any affected accounts. Consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
For more specific help and instructions related to Vastaamo's data breach, please contact Victim Support Finland directly.
Where can I go to learn more?
If you want to find more information on the Vastaamo data breach, check out the following news articles:
Rapidly implement a modern Zero Trust network that is more secure and maintainable than VPNs.
Vastaamo Data Breach: What & How It Happened?
Twingate Team
•
Jun 28, 2024
Vastaamo, a Finnish private psychotherapy service provider, experienced a data breach that was revealed in October 2020. The breach involved unauthorized access to the company's database, resulting in extortion attempts. The security vulnerabilities that allowed the breach occurred between November 2018 and March 2019. This incident underscored the necessity of strong security measures to protect sensitive information, especially in the healthcare sector.
How many accounts were compromised?
The breach impacted data related to around 30,000 individuals.
What data was leaked?
The data exposed in the breach included private information of psychotherapy patients, such as full names, home addresses, email addresses, social security numbers, names of the clinics where they received treatments, therapists' and doctors' notes from each session, and personal details from therapy sessions.
How was Vastaamo hacked?
Hackers breached Vastaamo's patient database through a cyberattack, exploiting inadequate security practices such as unencrypted and non-anonymized sensitive data and a system root without a defined password. The security flaws persisted from November 2018 to March 2019, allowing unauthorized access to private information of psychotherapy patients and employees.
Vastaamo's solution
In response to the hack, Vastaamo's specific enhanced security measures remain unclear. However, the Finnish government held meetings to address cybersecurity issues and create new legislation regarding data security and identity thefts. Various Finnish organizations established ways to help the victims, including direct dial-in numbers to churches and therapy services. The Finnish central government requested that government agencies ensure the processing and handling of personal information is secure to minimize the leakage of personal data.
How do I know if I was affected?
Vastaamo has not publicly disclosed whether they reached out to affected users. However, individuals concerned about their data can visit Have I Been Pwned to check if their credentials were compromised in the breach.
What should affected users do?
In general, affected users should:
Change Your Passwords: Immediately update your passwords for any accounts that may have been compromised. Make sure the new passwords are strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.
Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on any affected accounts. Consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
For more specific help and instructions related to Vastaamo's data breach, please contact Victim Support Finland directly.
Where can I go to learn more?
If you want to find more information on the Vastaamo data breach, check out the following news articles:
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