Russian hackers have reportedly accessed an estimated 169,000 NHS documents in a major data breach. Several of the sensitive and confidential documents are understood to belong to members of the Royal Family from various royal residences, including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Clarence House, The Mail on Sunday revealed.
It remains unclear exactly which royals have been affected by the leak. However, it has prompted serious fears about the privacy of the medical details of the Royal Household, particularly for the King, who continues to undergo cancer treatment. Others impacted by the breach include the BBC and Premier League football clubs. The Bahraini Royal Family and several British aristocrats are understood to have also been targeted.
The NHS and the Treasury are known to use Oracle software, which provides financial management and HR support to organisations.
Back in October, cybersecurity experts issued a warning about how vulnerable the software was to Russian hackers, and that attempts at “exploitation” were “highly likely”.
Researchers at Google warned that hackers from a group called Clop sent emails to executives at “numerous organisations… alleging the theft of sensitive data”.
GB News reported that the group demanded money for the safety of the documents, but they have since been revealed online. Barts NHS Health Trust is taking legal action to stop the data from being made public.
The worrying update comes after King Charles revealed the positive news that he will be able to reduce the frequency of his cancer treatment in the new year.
Taking part in Channel 4’s joint Stand Up To Cancer campaign with Cancer Research UK, the monarch, who was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in February last year, gave an update about his regular schedule of treatment.
He said: “Today I am able to share with you the good news that thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to ‘doctors’ orders’, my own schedule of cancer treatment can be reduced in the new year.
“This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care in recent years; testimony that I hope may give encouragement to the 50% of us who will be diagnosed with the illness at some point in our lives.”
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace were approached for comment.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
