Cosmetic surgery hackers threaten huge ‘data dump’

A POPULAR cosmetic surgery clinic in London has fallen victim to hackers who claim to be in possession of a tranche of private data, including client lists and photographs.

London Bridge Plastic Surgery said that despite urgent efforts to limit the damage, security was breached and data was stolen. Scotland Yard confirmed it had been informed of the theft and was investigating.

The clinic, near Marylebone, describes itself as “one of the leading plastic surgery clinics in the UK” and is allegedly used by a number of celebrities. It was reportedly attacked by a group known as the “Dark Overlord” which has tried to extort money from victims before. In a statement, the clinic said it was “horrified” that its patients had been targeted by a “highly sophisticated” group that had attacked large US medical providers and corporations over the past year.

One of the hackers told the Daily Beast website: “We have TBS [terabytes] of this s---. Databases, names, everything. We’re going to pitch it all up for everyone to nab. The entire patient list with corresponding photos. The world has never seen a medical dump of a plastic surgeon to such degree.” He claimed that “some royal families” were implicated but, if true, they were not believed to be British.

The data is said to include graphic photographs of surgery, patients’ bodies and faces. In a statement, the clinic said: “We can confirm that the clinic has been the victim of a cyber attack.

“We took measures to block the attack immediately in order to protect patient information and we informed the Metropolitan Police who launched an investigation. Regrettably, following investigations by our IT experts and the police, we believe that our security was breached.”