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.
