The FBI and other government agencies last night issued an emergency alert warning U.S. healthcare providers of an imminent threat of ransomware attacks targeting these organizations to disrupt patient services.
The CISA/FBI alert is here: https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-302a
Experts Comments
Cybereason is well-versed in the Ryuk crime gang and their actions in previous years to deploy ransomware around the world.
The FBI's and DHS's hastily scheduled news conference warning U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers of imminent ransomware attacks from a determined Russian cybercrime gang is more than just a wake-up call for the entire healthcare industry - it is a call to action that must be taken seriously. Cybereason is well-versed in the Ryuk crime gang and their actions in previous years to deploy ransomware around the world. The Ryuk crime group has laid a path of destruction around the world,.....Read More
Hospitals should be secured to the extent possible to protect sensitive patient and/or hospital data.
Hospitals are a global element of societal and economic critical infrastructure. As such, they should be secured to the extent possible to protect sensitive patient and/or hospital data. Network segmentation is an important, albeit complex, aspect of security that must be implemented in hospital systems in order to minimise their risk of a data breach. One major cybersecurity hurdle with medical devices in use in hospitals is that they have a very long lifespan—they were designed to last for.....Read More
With lives on the line, the importance of protecting critical healthcare data cannot be underestimated.
The advisory from several government agencies warning of increased ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations during an ongoing public health crisis demonstrates that ransomware operators will stop at nothing to get their payouts. While some gangs previously announced they planned to pause attacks on healthcare providers during COVID-19, attacks like the one on UHS earlier this month prove they aren’t slowing down. This warning doesn’t come as a surprise – hitting industries like.....Read More
You can’t just be waiting for something to happen. You have to be proactive.
The reason these attackers are going after hospitals is because they’re easy money and easy to attack. Hospitals need to have these records and, even prior to COVID-19, hospitals are known to have issues with allocating budget for security staff and resources in order to help prevent and respond to data breaches like these.
Even if a hospital pays the ransom, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the attacker just hands over the key and then deletes it all on their end. Health profiles are.....Read More
Taking a proactive approach to security is key.
The ransomware campaign against the US healthcare system is concerning for so many reasons – not least of which is the fact that the US is still very much battling to get the pandemic under control with hospitalizations on the rise in many states. We’ve already seen the consequences of attacks like this which could certainly include loss of life – making these particular attacks callous and devastating.
Downtime of any kind can impact patient wellbeing. Due to the complex and.....Read More
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@Nicole Bucala, vice president of business development, strategy and operations, provides expert commentary for "dot your expert comments" at @Information Security Buzz.
"Ransomware is on the rise, but the challenge is not insurmountable...."
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@Nicole Bucala, vice president of business development, strategy and operations, provides expert commentary for "dot your expert comments" at @Information Security Buzz.
"Ransomware is on the rise, but the challenge is not insurmountable...."
#infosec #cybersecurity #isdots
https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/expert-comments/fbi-alert-imminent-threat-of-ransomware-attacks-on-u-s-healthcare-experts-comments