Hims & Hers, a telehealth provider known for offering weight-loss drugs and sexual health prescriptions, has acknowledged a data breach linked to its external customer service platform. The company informed the California attorney general’s office in a recent breach notice that hackers infiltrated its third-party ticketing system between February 4 and February 7, 2023. During the breach, they accessed a significant number of support tickets that included personal information submitted by customers.
The notice specified that the compromised data included customer names and contact details, along with other personal information that Hims & Hers chose not to disclose in detail. While the company assured that medical records were not part of the breach, it recognised that the stolen data might still contain sensitive information related to users’ accounts and healthcare needs.
As of now, the precise number of affected individuals remains unknown. California law mandates businesses to report data breaches impacting 500 or more residents, which could potentially intensify the situation for Hims & Hers if the breach affects a substantial number of customers.
According to Jake Martin, a spokesperson for the company, the breach was a result of a social engineering attack, where hackers deceived employees into providing access to the system. While Martin indicated that the primary data stolen consisted of customer names and email addresses, he did not provide specifics when questioned further by TechCrunch.
The company has not disclosed whether any ransom demands were made by the hackers. Recently, these support and ticketing systems have become prime targets for cybercriminals driven by financial gain, leading to various companies facing threats to pay ransoms in exchange for securing their data.
This incident mirrors a previous data breach involving Discord, where malicious actors compromised its customer support ticketing system, resulting in the exposure of sensitive government-issued IDs from approximately 70,000 users who shared their private information to verify their ages.
Hims & Hers is now facing the challenge of mitigating the fallout from the breach while reinforcing the security of its systems to prevent future incidents, particularly in an era where customer data is increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats.
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