Hundreds of patients receive threatening emails after Fred Hutch cyberattack

Hundreds of people who have been patients at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center have received threatening emails following a cyberattack on the institution’s networks in November.

The cancer center said it detected unauthorized activity on its clinical network on Nov. 19, 2023.

The cybersecurity incident specifically involved Fred Hutch systems, but those systems also house some University of Washington Medicine patient data.

According to a statement from Fred Hutch, the impacted servers have been quarantined, the clinical network was taken offline as a protective measure, and an investigation is ongoing to identify the extent of the breach.

A spokesperson said via email that Fred Hutch has received approximately 300 calls from patients who have received similar emails.

The emails claim information for 800,000 patients has been compromised — including names, social security numbers, medical and insurance information, lab results and more — and demands payment to prevent the sale of that data.

Fred Hutch was not able to confirm what information has been compromised or speculate about how many people may be affected.