A hacker got 6 years in prison for stealing therapy notes and blackmailing patients
A Finnish hacker has been sentenced to six years and three months in prison after he was found guilty of stealing confidential therapy notes to blackmail thousands of patients.
The judges found the 26-year-old guilty of all counts, which included 9,231 counts of disseminating information violating personal privacy and 20,745 counts of attempted aggravated extortion.
In a bulletin published by Finland's judiciary system, the court said that the Vastaamo private psychotherapy service, which operated therapy centers across Finland, was hacked in November 2018.
When the company refused to comply, Kivimäki emailed thousands of patients asking them all for 200 euros, or $213, while threatening to publish their confidential therapy notes and personal details online if they didn't pay up, BBC News reported.
A trove of confidential information then surfaced on the dark web, including patients' personal details, Social Security numbers, and sensitive therapist and doctor notes from sessions.
