A ransomware group calling itself ‘Nova’ is threatening to publish even more sensitive medical records stolen from Clinical Diagnostics, a test lab in Rijswijk, unless the clinic pays up

within 11 days.

The hackers claim the clinic broke an agreement not to involve the police. Dutch police confirmed they are “working behind the scenes” after the clinic reported the breach last week.

So far, the personal data of nearly half a million people has been compromised—most of them women who took part in cervical cancer screenings.

According to sources, Clinical Diagnostics has already made at least one payment. After an earlier sum was transferred, Nova removed the data of around 50,000 women from its darknet site.

Nova is a relatively new but rapidly growing ransomware group. In just a short time, it has carried out multiple attacks, including one on local authorities in Pisa, Italy. Photo by B_A, Wikimedia commons.