Nearly a dozen women have sued a Las Vegas plastic surgery practice after its systems were hacked and their naked photos and information were posted online.
Hankins & Sohn Plastic Surgery had its systems breached in February, and the hackers have been posting before-and-after images of numerous women's boob jobs, along with their names, addresses, and other sensitive data.
Now, the FBI are investigating the cyber hack, and a number of plaintiffs have joined a federal class action lawsuit against Hankins & Sohn, claiming the office did not do enough to protect their data.
According to 8 News Now, the hacked images that were stolen earlier this year showed patients' faces, breasts, sensitive bodily areas, and surgery photos.
As well as images, personal information, such as names, medical records, addresses and Social Security numbers were breached during the hack and posted online.
Four women, who are plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit and say they are victims of the cyber hack, remained anonymous - but said that they were terrified after their private data was posted online
Hankins & Sohn Plastic Surgery had its systems breached in February, and the hackers have been posting before-and-after images of numerous women's boob jobs, along with their names, addresses, and other sensitive data
It's understood that as many as 12,000 patients could have been affected, 8 News Now said.
One female patient who had a breast augmentation at the surgery, and whose pictures and information were hacked and released, told 8 News Now: 'We went to an office that we thought was safe.
'That was going to protect us. We paid a lot of money and look what's happening.'
Of the four unnamed women who spoke to the outlet, one said she paid $7,000 at Hankins & Sohn for her cosmetic surgery, while another paid $30,000 for a full body makeover.
One woman said that the hack was: 'Absolutely heartbreaking. I didn't even want to leave my house. I didn't even want to talk to anybody.'
Another told 8 News Now: 'I'm beyond mortified that my info and my photos were leaked.' And a third said: 'On top of that I'm getting absolutely humiliated. It's devastating.'
Speaking about what they want to get out of the lawsuit, one of the women said: 'I want to see justice served.
'I want them to own up for what they did not. Not protecting our pictures. Not protecting our info. I want them to say that they were wrong for not having the security they're supposed to have as a doctor's office.'
In a letter to their patients, the surgery wrote in April: 'On or about February 23, 2023, Hankins & Sohn became aware of suspicious activity relating allegations by an unknown actor that data was stolen from our network'
None of the women who came forward said they'd heard from the surgery since the hack.
Attorney Mark Bourassa is representing 10 women as part of a class-action lawsuit.
The lawsuit said that the breach was 'a direct result of Defendant’s failure to implement adequate and reasonable cyber-security procedures and protocols,' leaving the women's personal data 'in the hands of cybercriminals who wish to use it for nefarious purposes.'
Three plaintiffs also say that they were contacted directly, being threatened by the hackers that if they didn't pay a ransom then they would post their images online.
In a letter to their patients, the surgery wrote in April: 'On or about February 23, 2023, Hankins & Sohn became aware of suspicious activity relating allegations by an unknown actor that data was stolen from our network.
Attorney Mark Bourassa (pictured) is representing 10 women as part of a class-action lawsuit. He said this case is about a 'breach of trust'
'We quickly took steps to investigate the validity of the claims and to assess the nature and scope of the activity and what information may have been affected.
'We are also working with law enforcement to investigate the activity. We learned that files were taken by the unknown actor prior to this date.'
In July, a website with a Russian domain appeared on the internet with the patients' photos and data. The FBI were able to shut it down, the women said, but in October a new one popped up.
The hackers wrote on October 17: 'Mr. Hankins and Mr. Sohn continue to ignore the situation, we suppose they're listening to some 'experts' and other 'specialists' opinions.
'It must be taken into account that it's a huge number of clients and inevitably winnable cases for lawyers, so they will surely be advising not to engage into a dialogue with us.'
The Nevada-based company is named after and run by certified plastic surgeons, W. Tracy Hankins and Samuel M. Sohn.
Their attorney Gary Schnitzer said in a statement: 'Hankins and Sohn Plastic Surgery is devastated by the data breach which occurred at the hands of third-party criminal actors.
'Both our patients and our practice are suffering due to this intentional criminal activity. We continue to work with the FBI and other agencies to protect patient information and also to bring these bad actors to justice.'
The lawsuit is asking for a jury trial, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.
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