Planned Parenthood Hacked, Database Stolen
Anti-abortion hackers targeted Planned Parenthood and released their website database including personal information of every employee. For now it is not known whether patient data has been compromised. The attack on Planned Parenthood follows a storm of controversy over the organization. Anti-abortion activists sparked the uproar earlier this month with the release of an edited video showing a Planned Parenthood director discussing the donation of fetus organs and tissue to medical research facilities, a legal but highly controversial practice.
Daily Dot talked to one of the attackers who goes by the name “E”, saying that they acted as part of a group that calls itself “3301”.
According to E, the breach is political, and the group intends to publish what it stole.
“Trying to mold an atrocious monstrosity into socially acceptable behaviors is repulsive,” said E. “Obviously what [Planned Parenthood] does is a very ominous practice. It’ll be interesting to see what surfaces when [Planned Parenthood] is stripped naked and exposed to the public.”
As it seems Planned Parenthood has many enemies. Even GOP presidential candidates are pushing against this organization. And after anti-choice activists released secretly-recorded videos of Planned Parenthood employees discussing tissue donation, edited to make the organization look like it was selling fetal body parts, criticism of the organization is more intense than ever.
According to latest news Planned Parenthood confirmed the breach and released the following statement.
“Today Planned Parenthood has notified the Department of Justice and separately the FBI that extremists who oppose Planned Parenthood’s mission and services have launched an attack on our information systems, and have called on the world’s most sophisticated hackers to assist them in breaching our systems and threatening the privacy and safety of our staff members. We are working with top leaders in this field to manage these attacks. We treat matters of safety and security with the utmost importance, and are taking every measure possible to mitigate these criminal efforts to undermine our mission and services.
Planned Parenthood is the most trusted women’s health care provider in this country, and anti-abortion extremists are willing to do anything to stop women from accessing the reproductive health care they are seeking. Extremists have broken laws, harassed our doctors and patients, produced hack videos, and now are claiming to have committed a gross invasion of privacy — one that, if true, could potentially put our staff members at risk.
No matter what extremist acts those who oppose safe and legal abortion commit, the fact remains that women and men across America will still need access to basic, reproductive health care: life-saving cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing and treatment, well-woman exams, and yes, safe and legal abortion. As always, we will continue to provide that care, and serve the 2.7 million women, men and young people who rely on us each year.”