Reading Room
‘Lock it down and piss people off’: How quick thinking stopped a ransomware attack from crippling a Florida hospital
Erie News Now, January 16, 2022
It was approaching midnight on Sunday and the head of IT at a Florida hospital had a problem.
The emergency room of Jackson Hospital, a 100-bed facility on Florida’s panhandle, called to report that it couldn’t connect to the charting system that doctors use to look up patients’ medical histories. Jamie Hussey, Jackson Hospital’s IT director, soon realized that the charting software, which was maintained by an outside vendor, was infected with ransomware and that he didn’t have much time to keep the computer virus from spreading.
Ransomware used to target reproductive health clinic
Digital Journal, January 13, 2022
A recent data breach announced affected the company Planned Parenthood LA. The firm stated that sensitive data was exposed following a ransomware attack towards the end of 2021.
Maryland Health Department Confirms Attack Was Ransomware
Gov Info Security, January 13, 2022
Maryland officials have confirmed that a December cyberattack on the state’s health department, which is still disrupting some services that were taken offline during recovery, involved ransomware. Officials say the state has not paid a ransom and has activated its cyber insurance policy.
Adopting Defense In Depth Strategies to Combat Healthcare Cyberattacks
Health IT Security, January 11, 2022
The AHA’s John Riggi and Attivo Networks’ Carolyn Crandall share insights on how organizations can navigate current healthcare cyberattack threats by using defense in depth strategies.
Mespinoza, Pysa Ransomware Pose Threat to Healthcare Cybersecurity
Health IT Security, January 11, 2022
HC3 warned the sector of Mespinoza, a cybercriminal group that operates Pysa ransomware and has a history of targeting healthcare entities.
SecurityWeek Cyber Insights 2022: Ransomware
Security Week, January 10, 2022
Ransomware has grown from humble beginnings as threat-based scams to a worldwide criminal phenomenon. It has been a continuous process of extortion refinement, with criminals adapting their behavior to maximize their financial return. This evolutionary process will continue.
Mespinoza, Pysa ransomware an ongoing threat to the healthcare sector, HHS warns
SC Media, January 7, 2022
A new Department of Health and Human Services Cybersecurity Program alert is reminding the healthcare sector of ongoing cyberattacks by the Mespinoza cybercriminal group, which has highly targeted the healthcare sector over the last two years with Pysa ransomware and other cyber threats.
Healthcare Data Breaches Continue as New Year Begins
Health IT Security, January 6, 2022
As a new year begins, threat actors are continuing to overwhelm providers and patients with healthcare data breaches. Some experts predict that ransomware actors will favor data exfiltration over encryption this year and that they will shift their focus to APIs and other attack vectors in order to throw off victims.
Challenges remain for healthcare cybersecurity
Tech HQ, January 5, 2022
- Cybersecurity is a growing issue across all industries, with no signs of slowing down
- Two-thirds of health delivery organizations have been victims of ransomware attacks, while 33% have been hit twice or more
- Governments must enforce existing laws and norms of behavior to crack down on cybersecurity threat actors
Are Medical Devices at Risk of Ransomware Attacks?
The Hacker News, January 3, 2022
In May 2017, the first documented ransomware assault on networked medical equipment happened. The worldwide ransomware assault WannaCry compromised radiological and other instruments in several hospitals during its height, after a software failure caused by a cyberattack on its third-party vendor’s oncology cloud service, cancer patients having radiation therapy at four healthcare institutions had to reschedule appointments.