Nearly one million women affected by a data breach at a clinical laboratory

Hackers gained unauthorised access to the systems of Clinical Diagnostics Laboratorium, compromising the personal data of approximately one million women. The information exposed included BSN numbers, home addresses, and medical examination results.

This incident reflects a systemic problem: organisations frequently retain more personal information than is operationally required. As data proliferates across multiple systems and partner platforms, protecting it becomes exponentially harder.

Credenco's Business Wallet enables a different model. Using selective disclosure, transactions can be completed with credential verification while the underlying sensitive data is never shared. Even if downstream systems are compromised, user privacy is preserved — because the data was never there to begin with.

Breaches like this one will continue to happen. The question is not whether organisations can prevent every attack, but whether they can limit what an attacker can reach. Data that is never collected cannot be stolen.