Barlow Respiratory Hospital based in Los Angeles, CA has reported that it has encountered a ransomware attack last August 27, 2021. The Vice Society ransomware gang executed the attack and obtained access to its system as well as the electronic medical record system. Before deploying ransomware to encrypt records, the gang exfiltrated patient records, a number of which were shared on the ransomware gang’s dark web data leak page.
Barlow Respiratory Hospital explained while the attack affected a few IT systems, the medical center was able to proceed with operations following its emergency processes and patient care wasn’t cut off.
Upon recognition of the data breach, the authorities were alerted and a third-party cybersecurity agency was involved to help with the investigation and identify the magnitude of the data breach. The attack investigation is still ongoing.
Although a number of ransomware groups have stated they won’t target healthcare companies, Vice Society is not part of that group. The ransomware operation sprang up in June 2021 and already attacked several healthcare organizations, like Eskenazi Health based in Indianapolis. The ransomware gang has been taking advantage of new security issues, for example, the Windows PrintNightmare vulnerabilities.
A representative of Barlow Respiratory Hospital said they will go on to work with the authorities to support the investigation. Also, they are working hard, with the help of a cybersecurity agency, to examine what files may have been compromised in the incident. If needed, they will advise the people whose data may have been impacted, as per applicable guidelines and regulations, sooner or later.
Missouri Delta Medical Center Experiences Hive Ransomware Attack
The protected health information (PHI) of patients of Missouri Delta Medical Center located in Sikeston, MO was compromised in a ransomware attack executed by the Hive ransomware gang. At the beginning of this month, a part of the stolen information was loaded to the ransomware gang’s data leak website in order to force the medical center into shelling out the ransom payment. The Hive ransomware group has attacked a number of healthcare companies in the past couple of weeks, which include Memorial Health System.
Missouri Delta Medical Center involved the expert services of a prominent forensic security firm to look into the attack and find out the nature and extent of the breach. The provider was later on advised by a third party that a number of patient records were stolen and shared on the web. In accordance with the write-up on the Hive gang’s data leak webpage, the names, telephone numbers, addresses, birth dates, race/sex, Social Security numbers, next of kin information, diagnoses, and financial details of 95,000 persons was stolen during the attack. That data was enclosed in 400 GB of files that were copied before file encryption.
Missouri Delta Medical Center mentioned the attack did not affect its capacity to deliver health care for patients. The attack investigation is in progress nevertheless at this phase it seems that the attack didn’t impact its electronic medical record system.
Missouri Delta Medical Center apologizes for any trouble this event may have created and is doing something to improve security and minimize the risk of an identical incident taking place down the road. The center continues to be focused on keeping on assisting the community.
