Hackers Steal Footage of South Korean Women During Gynaecology Exams as Videos Spread Across Porn Sites

Footage of patients undergoing treatment inside South Korean clinics, including obstetrics and gynaecology practices, has been found circulating on overseas adult websites.

The office of Democratic Party lawmaker Heo Jong-sik identified 80 videos filmed inside domestic medical institutions, 21 of them linked to a single gynaecology clinic in Seoul. Police are now investigating how the material resurfaced online.

The footage appears to include material obtained in a major IP camera hacking case investigated last year, which has since been reposted on other overseas sites.

Eighty Videos Recorded Over Nearly Four Years

Heo said his office found the videos during a survey of overseas pornographic websites. The footage showed patients at obstetrics and gynaecology clinics, plastic surgery practices, traditional Korean medicine clinics and rehabilitation medicine departments, the Kyunghyang Shinmun reported.

The recordings date from February 2022 to November 2025 and were filmed in waiting rooms, consultation rooms, ultrasound rooms and examination rooms. They show patients undergoing procedures, receiving injections and acupuncture, and changing clothes, with no masking of faces or bodies.

Heo's office estimated that about 100 people may have been affected, Seoul Economic Daily reported. 'With footage of people receiving medical treatments and changing clothes circulating, how can the public feel safe going to the hospital?' Heo said.

Police received his request for an investigation on 29 September and assigned the case to the North Chungcheong Provincial Police Agency, Yonhap reported. Heo said he sought the inquiry to prevent human rights violations and secondary harm to the people filmed.

He also urged the Ministry of Health and Welfare to conduct a full survey of CCTV security at medical institutions, work with police to identify the source of the leaks, and ensure redistributed content is deleted or blocked. The patients have not been identified, and the clinics involved have not been publicly named.

Old Footage, New Uploads

Most of the leaked footage came from IP cameras, internet-connected devices that transmit recordings in real time and are more exposed to intrusion than closed-circuit systems, SBS reported.

Police caught the original suspects in the camera-hacking case last year. The current investigation concerns the reposting of previously leaked footage on other overseas sites after those arrests, Newsis reported.

Police have previously sought to block access to websites carrying the illegally filmed material and plan to pursue people who redistributed it. They have not publicly established that all 80 videos came from the suspects in last year's case.

Rooms Outside the Operating Theatre Rules

South Korea's Medical Service Act requires medical institutions to install and operate CCTV in operating rooms where surgery is performed on patients who are unconscious because of anaesthesia. The requirement took effect on 25 September 2023.

The law's implementing rules require security measures for that footage, including passwords, access records and limits on who may view the recordings. The footage identified by Heo's office was recorded in examination rooms, consultation rooms and waiting areas rather than in the operating rooms covered by those provisions.

In November 2025, South Korean police said they had apprehended four suspects, three of whom were detained, in connection with hacking roughly 120,000 IP cameras in homes and businesses, including a gynaecology clinic. Police said the suspects acted independently rather than as a group, Asia Business Daily reported.

One suspect allegedly hacked about 63,000 cameras, produced 545 sexually exploitative videos and sold them for 35 million won, about £18,000 ($24,000). A second allegedly hacked about 70,000 cameras and produced 648 videos, which were sold for 18 million won, about £9,000 ($12,000).

Police said videos produced by the two suspects accounted for about 62 per cent of the illegally filmed material uploaded to one overseas website during the previous year.

On 7 December 2025, the government announced follow-up measures to strengthen IP camera security, including plans to require security-certified products at facilities such as hospitals and swimming pools and to tighten password requirements. The clinic footage identified by Heo's office was recorded before the government announced those measures.

Hospitals Struggling To Keep Pace

The case has added to pressure on the health ministry over cybersecurity in the medical sector. Health and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong acknowledged at the parliamentary audit that hospitals' security response was not keeping pace with attackers.

According to figures cited at the audit, 16.7 per cent of 263 general hospitals, including tertiary general hospitals, had no information security budget. Each hospital employed an average of just 0.9 information security workers.

Ransomware has already disrupted major institutions. Chonnam National University Hospital suffered an information leak, while an attack on Kangwon National University Hospital caused a work stoppage.

The cross-border nature of the websites can make removal more difficult, and police have previously sought website blocks and cooperation from foreign authorities.

The investigation will test whether South Korea can trace and remove footage that has already spread across overseas websites.

Anyone in South Korea affected by illegally filmed or distributed intimate images can contact the National Center for Digital Sexual Crime Response on 02-735-8994. Adults in the UK can contact the Revenge Porn Helpline on 0345 6000 459.