Ransomware strikes the Fertility Clinic

Patients at a fertility clinic in New York City are being told that their personal information may have been hacked and stolen in a recent cyber-attack, and they may not know it.

After the ransomware hit Extend Fertility in December 2021, they had to pay a lot of money to get back. They do IVF and freeze eggs and embryos. The clinic hired digital forensic experts from a third party to determine what happened and how big it was.

On December 20, 2021, Extend Fertility discovered a ransomware attack that hit their networks and servers, which had some of their patients’ health and family information.

“We quickly took steps to protect and restore our systems and operations after we found out about the problem,” said the officials of Extend Fertility. 

During a month-long investigation, cybercriminals were able to get into servers where the protected health information (PHI) and private details of some of the clinic’s patients were stored.

The facility did not disclose the number of patients affected by the event. In a statement about the cyber-attack, extend fertility characterized itself as “one of the numerous healthcare providers addressing the implications of the expanding cyber threat environment.”

Individuals affected or engaged in the event will get free credit monitoring and identity protection services from the clinic. Extend Fertility claimed it had found no indication that any of the patient information compromised in the assault had been utilized for identity theft or financial wrongdoing.