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Data of 15,000 Expectant Parents Stolen Following UK Charity Hack

Because being pregnant is a piece of cake, here's a data breach to go with your swollen feet and morning sickness

Apr 8, 2016 16:55 GMT  ·  By
UK charity NCT faces data breach
   UK charity NCT faces data breach

A data breach at the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) has allowed hackers to get away with the personal records of 15,085 parents, some of whom are expecting a child in the upcoming months.

The incident took place two days ago, when NCT reported a cyber-incident that affected its websites and adjacent services.

NCT, a UK-based charity specialized in providing help to expectant parents, has informed authorities and sent out a letter to all affected couples.

The hacker didn't steal all of NCT's data

While the NCT claims on its website that its parenting courses are visited and consulted by over 100,000 parents per year, the attackers might have not gotten away with all of this data.

The information stolen in the incident is comprised of email addresses, usernames and encrypted passwords. This type of data is usually found in Web-based user accounts.

UK media outlet the BBC has reached out to the clinic's staff and confirmed that the intrusion and subsequent data breach happened through its website.

In a letter sent to affected users, NCT CEO Nick Wilkie also confirmed this information and asked users to change their passwords as soon as possible. It may be a good idea for affected parties to also change their passwords for accounts that feature the same credentials if the user has used them for other online accounts.

Healthcare under assault

Earlier in March, 21st Century Oncology, a Florida-based cancer treatment center, also suffered a data breach. During this incident, an unknown attacker stole 2.2 million records from cancer patients undergoing treatment at various centers across the US.

Healthcare units in general are considered easy to hack. A study of 12 healthcare facilities and 2 healthcare data facilities by Independent Security Evaluators (ISE), a US security firm, revealed that medical care units and their devices are exposed to online threats more than other sectors.