Some Seattle cancer center patients are receiving threatening emails after last month's data breach

SEATTLE — Some patients at a Seattle-based cancer center received threatening emails after a data breach last month.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center officials said a hack on Nov. 19 affected part of the health care system's clinical network, potentially leaking patient data.

This week, some former and current patients received threatening emails claiming that names, Social Security numbers, medical histories and other data of more than 800,000 patients had been compromised, The Seattle Times reported.

Emails shared with the newspaper claimed recipients' stolen data would be sold.

Christina VerHeul, the center's vice president of communications, said she couldn't speculate how many people were affected but said an investigation is underway.

After last month's hack, the center took its clinical network offline, notified federal law enforcement and hired a forensic security firm to investigate, she said.

The center encouraged patients to keep a close eye on bank statements and credit reports.

The center instructed those who received suspicious or threatening phone calls or emails to report them to the FBI, block senders and delete messages. If the message asks for a ransom, do not pay it, the center said.