Finland shocked by therapy centre hacking, client blackmail

Vastaamo urged clients who receive demands to pay money in exchange for keeping their information private to immediately contact Finnish police. — AP

HELSINKI: Finland’s interior minister summoned key Cabinet members into an emergency meeting Sunday after hundreds – and possibly thousands – of patient records at a private Finnish psychotherapy centre were accessed by a hacker or hackers now demanding ransoms.

Finnish Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo tweeted that authorities would “provide speedy crisis help to victims” of the security breach at the Vastaamo psychotherapy centre, an incident she called “shocking and very serious”.