British police said Tuesday they were investigating the theft of data from a London plastic surgery clinic, with reports that sensitive images of celebrities have been stolen.
London Bridge Plastic Surgery said it was still establishing the extent of the hack, adding that it believed those responsible have previously targeted US medical providers.
“On Tuesday, 17 October the Metropolitan Police Service was informed of a data theft from a cosmetic surgery clinic in London,” the police force said in a statement.
“Detectives from the Met’s Organised Crime Command are investigating,” it said, adding that no arrests have been made.
The clinic, which is located in the upmarket Marylebone district, said it was “horrified” that its patients had been targeted.
“Regrettably, following investigations by our IT experts and the police, we believe that our security was breached and that data has been stolen,” it said in a statement.
“The group behind the attack are highly sophisticated and well known to international law enforcement agencies, having targeted large US medical providers and corporations over the past year.”
Clients include British former glamour model Katie Price, who has previously praised the clinic for an “amazing result” after a facelift.
The Daily Beast, a US news site, said a hacking group calling itself The Dark Overlord had sent their reporter stolen photos of genitalia during surgery, using a surgery email address.
“There are some royal families in here,” the hackers were quoted as saying, claiming to have stolen a database including patients’ names.
“We’re going to pitch it all up for everyone to nab. The entire patient list with corresponding photos. The world has never seen a medical dump of a plastic surgeon to such degree,” they said.
