Barlow Respiratory Hospital based in Los Angeles, CA has published information that it has experienced a ransomware attack on August 27, 2021. The Vice Society ransomware gang conducted the attack and acquired access to its network including the electronic medical record system. Prior to utilizing ransomware to encrypt data, the gang exfiltrated patient information, some of which were published on the ransomware gang’s dark web data leak site.
Barlow Respiratory Hospital stated while the attack affected a number of IT systems, the healthcare provider was able to keep on operating under its emergency guidelines and patient care was not disrupted.
Upon discovery of the security breach, law enforcement agencies were notified and a third-party cybersecurity company was called in to assist the investigation and find out the magnitude of the data breach. The attack investigation is still ongoing.
While several ransomware operations have mentioned they are not going to target healthcare organizations, Vice Society doesn’t fall into that category. The ransomware operation came out in June 2021 and already attacked a number of healthcare companies, such as Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis. The ransomware gang has been exploiting new security vulnerabilities, such as the Windows PrintNightmare flaws.
A spokesperson for Barlow Respiratory Hospital stated they will carry on and work with law enforcement to support the investigation. Also, they are working earnestly, with the help of a cybersecurity firm, to evaluate what data may have been exposed in the incident. If required, they will inform the people whose records may have been impacted, according to applicable rules and regulations, eventually.
Missouri Delta Medical Center Encounters Hive Ransomware Attack
The protected health information (PHI) of patients of Missouri Delta Medical Center located in Sikeston, MO was stolen in a ransomware attack carried out by the Hive ransomware gang. At the start of this month, a portion of the stolen records was published to the ransomware gang’s data leak website so as to compel the medical center into giving the ransom payment. The Hive ransomware gang has attacked several healthcare organizations in the last few weeks, such as Memorial Health System.
Missouri Delta Medical Center hired the services of a top-rated forensic security company to investigate the attack and know the nature and extent of the breach. The medical center was eventually informed by a third party that certain patient information was stolen and posted on the internet. Based on the posting on the Hive gang’s data leak webpage, the names, phone numbers, addresses, dates of birth, sex/race, Social Security numbers, next of kin data, diagnoses, and financial data of 95,000 persons was stolen in the attack. That information was included in 400 GB of files that were exfiltrated prior to encrypting files.
Missouri Delta Medical Center stated the attack did not affect its capability to give care to patients. The cyberattack investigation is in progress however at this point it appears that the attack did not impact its electronic medical record system.
Missouri Delta Medical Center apologizes for any hassle this occurrence may have brought about and is taking action to increase security and decrease the risk of the same incident happening later on. The medical center remains focused on keeping on helping the community.