Planned Parenthood Confirms Hack

FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2007 file photo, protesters march near a Planned Parenthood location in Aurora, Ill. Some Illinois lawmakers are seeking to require annual inspections for all the state's abortion clinics, mo... FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2007 file photo, protesters march near a Planned Parenthood location in Aurora, Ill. Some Illinois lawmakers are seeking to require annual inspections for all the state's abortion clinics, more than three years after officials took steps to reinforce the system following a report by The Associated Press that some facilities had gone 15 years without an inspection. (AP Photo/Stacie Freudenberg, File) MORE LESS
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Planned Parenthood confirmed Monday that its internal systems were the target of a cyber attack, hours after reports that hackers had gained access to the organization’s internal databases and employee records. Planned Parenthood said that it was targeted by abortion “extremists” and had asked federal law enforcement to investigate the breach.

“Today Planned Parenthood has notified the Department of Justice and separately the FBI that extremists who oppose Planned Parenthood’s mission and services have launched an attack on our information systems, and have called on the world’s most sophisticated hackers to assist them in breaching our systems and threatening the privacy and safety of our staff members,” Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. “We are working with top leaders in this field to manage these attacks. We treat matters of safety and security with the utmost importance, and are taking every measure possible to mitigate these criminal efforts to undermine our mission and services.”

The Daily Dot reported Monday morning that late Sunday a group of hackers had launched a successful breach of the organizations’ website databases and employee records. One of the hackers believed to be involved suggested the cyber attack was politically motivated, however, a Motherboard report cast doubt on that claim.

Planned Parenthood is already under fire for a series of heavily-edited videos that anti-abortion activists say show that affiliates are profiting from providing tissues from aborted fetuses to researchers.

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  1. Avatar for wtf1 wtf1 says:

    I’m glad the feds are finally getting involved even if it’s just a hacking crime. It would be nice if they would investigate the terrorism that goes on every day at clinics. If PP were a band, the feds would have been all over this harassment years ago!

  2. Avatar for ajm ajm says:

    " Planned Parenthood said that it was targeted by abortion “extremists” and had asked federal law enforcement to investigate the breach. "

    Why the quotes on extremists? When anto-abortion groups commit crimes what else would you call them?

  3. Avatar for dswx dswx says:

    “Planned Parenthood is already under fire for a series of heavily-edited videos that anti-abortion activists say show that affiliates are profiting off of providing tissues from aborted fetuses to researchers.”

    Oh come on, TPM! Playing the false equivalency card?! There is no way TPM reporting should write a sentence like that. The lazy reporting and non-supervision/lack of an editor has got to stop. Apparently Ms. Sneed thinks she is Chuck Todd. Reprehensible!

  4. Now those a-holes have private employee information. These people are dangerous.

  5. 97% of what Planned Parenthood does is family planning and birth control. What’s wrong with that?

    Only 3% is abortion and no Federal funds go towards that.

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