(dr) Ministry of Health
A hacker managed to seize the access credentials of a doctor registered with the ULS of Alto Minho and accessed, through SNS24, data from several Portuguese people from the central and northern regions of the country, including children.
The Order of Doctors received dozens of complaints of parents who noticed improper access to clinical processes through the health professional’s credentials.
According to the news, on the SNS portal, parents can verify that access was made from Miranda do Corvowhere the health professional would have worked for around eight years.
The Alto Minho ULS, where the doctor works, assured that it was a misuse of credentials. “Having heard the doctor, everything indicates that his credentials were compromised, and the access was not carried out by the professional”, said the institution.
When moving to a new ULS, the professional received new credentials, meaning the old ones should have been deactivated. However, that didn’t happensince they were used in improper access.
On social media complaints have multiplied in the last few hours. Users reported improper access to children’s files, with notifications indicating consultations in different locations.
Furthermore, several parents would have received alerts about access to their children’s files, especially young children, which led to contacts with health centers and, in some cases, the filing of complaints with health authorities and the police.
The case began to be reported this Thursday. “Mistério da Saúde has to explain the situation and give guarantees to users that the problem will be corrected and will not happen again”, said the president of the Medical Association, Carlos Cortes.
The also points out that it has received several complaints about “alleged improper access to minors’ clinical data” and highlights the need for parents to check that the same has not happened to their children.
It is also known that the Medical Association forwarded the process to the Public Ministry.
