Hackers have published what appears to be a trove of Australian patient data on the dark web after claiming to have hacked a Victorian dental practice.
INC Ransom made the claims in a 12 August post on its darknet leak site, alleging to have breached Brighton East Dental Clinic.
The hackers published 37 gigabytes of data in several folders on the same day. One, BEDCDATA, contains test results of sterilisation equipment, an audio recording of a patient diagnosis, employment contracts, consent forms, medical impact statements, and other internal documents.
Another directory contains more than 600 folders containing what appears to be correspondence between Brighton East Dental Clinic and other specialist healthcare providers. Each folder refers to an individual patient and includes referral and treatment details, dental X-rays, and other medical correspondence.
The data appears to date from 2003 to 2025.
Brighton East Dental Clinic declined to provide comment.
Who is INC Ransom?
The hackers behind INC Ransom and its affiliates are no strangers to the Australian healthcare sector.
One of the group’s affiliates claimed responsibility for a hack targeting Australian healthcare network Partnered Health – which operates more than 60 clinics across Australia – in a 30 July post to its darknet leak site.
Speaking of that hack, Adrian Covich, vice president of systems engineering APJ at Proofpoint, said the healthcare sector is a prime target for hackers “due to the highly sensitive data” held by many hospitals and clinics.
“All Australians connected to the affected clinics should now exercise extreme caution with any unsolicited emails, texts, or calls, and independently verify any requests for information or payment directly with their healthcare provider,” Covich said.
INC Ransom was first observed in August 2023 and has since claimed 907 victims. The group is a ransomware-as-a-service operation, offering its ransomware expertise to affiliates in return for a cut of any profits.
Who is Brighton East Dental Clinic?
Based in the Victorian suburb of the same name, Brighton East Dental Clinic offers general dental and children’s dental services, as well as preventative and denture care.
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