A former pharmacist from Maryland is in hot water after being accused of compromising company computers and cameras to spy on the private acts of colleagues.
The Baltimore Banner reported that Dr. Matthew Bathula stands accused in a civil lawsuit of spying on hundreds of co-workers by installing malware on company computers. The spyware allegedly allowed the doctor to observe the day-to-day lives of young doctors and residents without their knowledge.
In addition to infecting company PCs, Bathula allegedly logged passwords and then used the credentials to access home networks of employees.
According to the suit, Bathula (now a former employee of the University of Maryland Medical Center) used his administrative position to gain access to employee laptops and install remote monitoring malware.
Armed with the remote tools, it is alleged that Bathula was able to covertly activate the laptop camera and disable the indicator light in order to keep the covert surveillance under wraps.
Employees breast-feeding and engaging in intimacy with their partners were among the footage captured by Bathula, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs said they were only alerted to the spying when they were contacted by the FBI. The Bureau is not commenting on the matter, as it is policy to decline any statements regarding ongoing cases.
In the meantime, Bathula and the University of Maryland Medical Center are facing a class-action lawsuit from five women who are said to be among hundreds who were covertly spied on by the doctor.
“The scale of the privacy invasion giving rise to this action is as unprecedented as it is shocking,” said plaintiff attorney Steve Kelly, per the Banner.
“For nearly a decade, a single pharmacist named Matthew Bathula installed spyware on at least 400 computers in clinics, treatment rooms, labs and a variety of other locations at one of the nation’s premier teaching hospitals.”
The University of Maryland Medical Center was quick to distance itself from the matter and said that it would continue to cooperate with all investigations.
“Healthcare organizations and the people who work in them have unfortunately in recent times become the victims of cyberattacks from threat actors, and we continue to take aggressive steps to protect our IT systems in this challenging environment,” the hospital said in a statement.
“We understand the sensitivity of some of the information involved in this matter and extend our deepest regret and compassion to those affected by this individual’s actions.”
