Hackers Expose Nude Cosmetic Surgery Clinic Photos to Demand Ransom

A total of 25,000 private photos were published by hackers that stole them from a Lithuanian cosmetic surgery clinic, according to police. Considering the nature of the business from which the photos were stolen, it's only natural that there are nudes and pictures that contain personal data of the patients.

The majority of the images were dumped last Tuesday, by a hacking group calling itself the "Tsar Team". The group had breached the security of the servers of the Grozio Chirurgija clinic earlier in 2017 and acquired the data that allowed it to blackmail patients from more than 60 countries around the world, including the United Kingdom.

Police have stated that a portion of the database was previously released in March, following a ransom demand, while the rest was dumped last Tuesday. The full amount of patients that were affected is not yet known, but police have said that dozens have reported being blackmailed. Andzejus Raginskis, Lithuania's criminal police bureau deputy chief spoke to reporters, saying: "It's extortion. We're talking about a serious crime."

According to authorities, there are upwards of 1,500 British patients listed in the database. The hackers demanded ransom payments in bitcoin, ranging from €50 to €2,000, depending on how sensitive the stolen data was. Needless to say, national insurance numbers, passport scans, and nude photos resulted in higher ransom requests.

But before the attackers turned their sights on the patients, they tried to extort the Lithuanian clinic directly. They first demanded some 300 bitcoin for the information, but the Grozio Chirurgija clinic refused to pay. The ransom was later dropped to 50 bitcoins but was still left unpaid.

Lithuanian police are working closely with security services from other European countries, while they have warned that anyone who stores or downloads the stolen data could also face prosecution.

The director of the Grozio Chirurgija clinic, Jonas Staikunas, told local media: "Clients, of course, are in shock. Once again, I would like to apologize." He added: "Cybercriminals are blackmailers. They are blackmailing our clients with inappropriate text messages."

The clinic has warned its clients to not communicate with the blackmails and to avoid downloading anything sent to them, for fear of being exposed to further attacks. They advised the patients to contact police immediately in the case of being contacted by the hackers.

This incident comes after the massive WannaCry attack that brought down a number of NHS trusts' IT systems earlier this year. The "Tsar Team" hacking group that was allegedly behind the attack is also known as "Fancy Bear" or APT28 and has been accused of hacking the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, En Marche, and the Democratic National Committee.