The organization notified the FBI and Department of Justice of a possible data breach that could threaten the ‘privacy and safety of our staff members’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Planned Parenthood representatives say that hackers appear to be working to gain access to the abortion providers’ employee information systems.

The organization notified the FBI and Department of Justice of a possible data breach, a spokesperson said on Monday, one that representatives from the organization said “if true” could threaten the “privacy and safety of our staff members”.

“Planned Parenthood is the most trusted women’s healthcare provider in this country, and anti-abortion extremists are willing to do anything to stop women from accessing the reproductive healthcare they are seeking,” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice-president of Planned Parenthood for America, the organization’s national office.

“Extremists have broken laws, harassed our doctors and patients, produced hack videos, and now are claiming to have committed a gross invasion of privacy – one that, if true, could potentially put our staff members at risk.”

Laguens said that the hackers, “launched an attack on our information systems, and have called on the world’s most sophisticated hackers to assist them in breaching our systems and threatening the privacy and safety of our staff members”.

Representatives said on Monday afternoon that they are still investigating whether the hackers gained access to systems, and declined to give specifics about where or how their systems may have been attacked.

The potential data breach appears to have been first reported by the Daily Dot on Monday morning, which cited a hacker group called “3301” as taking responsibility for the attack (which remains unconfirmed). The name references a well-known internet puzzle.

Attempts to hack the abortion provider come two weeks after an anti-abortion group began releasing undercover footage of Planned Parenthood executives discussing fetal tissue procurement. The videos have served as a rallying cry for anti-choice politicians to defund Planned Parenthood, even though the videos appear to show no legal wrongdoing.

Laguens called the attack a “new low” for anti-abortion activists, in an earlier statement.