Cancer screening hack far bigger than thought agency says DutchNewsnl

pThe scale of a data theft from a Dutch national screening programme laboratory is far greater than initially reported research agency Bevolkingsonderzoek Nederland said on FridayppHackers may have accessed the personal and medical details of all 941000 women who have taken part in the cervical cancer screening programme since 2017 the agency said in a website statementppThe organisation first said that data from 485000 participants had been stolen but has now confirmed that at least 715000 women have been affected Because it cannot rule out that the entire database was compromised every woman who has taken part in the programme since 2017 will receive a letter in the coming weeksppppAs well as personal details the stolen files contained medical information some of which has already been published on the dark webppRTL Nieuws reported that the names home addresses and BSN numbers of a  minister and an MP were among the leaked data along with details of the tests they underwentppWe realise this is a very distressing message for participants in the cervical cancer screening programme Bevolkingsonderzoek Nederland said in a statement We are communicating this now because participants must be alert to phishing and fraudppThe public prosecution service and police have launched a criminal investigation into the theft to establish who was behind the hack Tens of thousands of women are have also signed up for mass claims in response to the breachpp We could not provide the Dutch News service and keep it free of charge without the generous support of our readers Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each dayppOur thanks to everyone who donates regularly to Dutch News It costs money to produce our daily news service our original features and daily newsletters and we could not do it without youppIf you have not yet made a donation or did so a while ago you can do so via these linksppThe DutchNewsnl teamppPlease help us making DutchNewsnl a better read by taking part in a short surveyp