Cyberattacks Hit US Hospitals: Patients Diverted In Several States
155 hostages remain in Gaza, will truce extend past today?
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Israeli hostages released on 11/28/23. Via: Times of Israel
Good morning,
10 Israeli and two Thai hostages were freed yesterday after 53 days of captivity in Gaza.
Today could be the final day of the temporary truce, unless the two sides extend it. 10 more Israeli hostages are set to be released in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners.
Will the deal be extended again? There are still nearly 160 hostages, including a few young Israeli children—including a 10 month old. Israel-Hamas negotiations continue in Qatar, with officials from the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar mediating.
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🗞 RANSOMWARE ATTACKS SHAKE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Over the holiday weekend, a number of US hospitals were hit with a ransomware attack — which locks computers as hackers demand a payoff. It led emergency rooms in at least four states to divert patients to functional, nearby hospitals.
The cyber attack against Ardent Health Services started on Thanksgiving Day, and continues to be felt at some of the healthcare chain’s 30 hospitals in Oklahoma, Texas, New Jersey, New Mexico, Idaho and Kansas.
HOSPITALS SHAKEN
Ardent is responding by rescheduling some elective procedures, and suspending access to some online services, including the software used to document patient care.
Emergency room patients were diverted at Hillcrest HealthCare System, OK; Lovelace Health System, NM; UT Health, TX; and Hackensack Meridian's Mountainside Medical Center and Pascack Valley Medical Center, NJ.
While the extent of this attack is not yet known, including whether confidential patient health or financial information was compromised, the event signals a larger problem healthcare systems have been facing for years: they are top targets for cyber attacks.
MAJOR HITS ON HEALTHCARE
Cybersecurity analysts say so far this year 36 U.S. healthcare systems with 128 hospitals have been attacked. Last year, 25 systems were hit—impacting 290 hospitals. The ransomware hackers typically lock hospitals out of their vital computer systems, demanding ransom in the form of crypto currency.
Data shows: when a ransomware attack occurs, patients' risk of dying goes up. And the impact on care can last months.
The ransomware gangs, often based in Russia or eastern Europe, steal data before activating malware that paralyzes networks. They then threaten to make stolen data public in order to extort payments.
🚨 Nearly two-thirds of healthcare organizations were hit by ransomware attacks from March 2022 to March 2023, cybersecurity firm Sophos found. That is a major jump from 2021 when one-third of systems were attacked.
It’s big bucks for the healthcare industry: the average cost of each breach in the U.S. is about $11 million.
For over a decade, healthcare has experienced the
Via: IBM
HOW IT WORKS
We all know: don’t.click.the.weird.email.link. But, there are a few ways to break into a system — and their effectiveness is split pretty evenly.
Compromised credentials: Hackers use lists of compromised passwords, etc. to attempt to log into a wide range of online accounts.
Exploited vulnerabilities: A weakness in an IT system that can be exploited by an attacker.
Email-based attacks: Yes, those links… Organizations send and receive thousands of emails per day, making email a massive vulnerability.
The threat of making stolen data public is used to extort payments. That data can also be sold online.
Via: Heimdal
In the 2023 report, 42% of healthcare organizations paid the ransom to recover their encrypted data, while over three-quarters (73%) used backups for data recovery. That’s down from 61% that paid the ransom last year.
FEDS SAYS DON’T PAY
Federal agencies agree that paying the ransom does more harm than good. While paying may appear to be a easy solution, organizations are discouraged to pay:
It escalates payments: ransomware groups commonly ask for multiple payments in a double-extortion ransomware attack.
Data isn't always returned: 92% of organizations don't get all their data back, and of those that paid, only 29% recovered half their encrypted data.
It encourages attackers: If they can do it once, why not try again?
Most of the attackers live outside of the U.S., leaving them out of reach from American law enforcement.
HOSPITALS ALREADY REELING
Rising healthcare cost, burnt-out workers, and consolidating hospitals already has the U.S. medical system struggling.
This summer, an Illinois hospital closed due to a 2021 ransomware attack that halted its ability to submit claims to insurers, Medicare or Medicaid for months, sending it into a financial spiral.
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🗓 ON THIS DAY: NOVEMBER 29
1947: The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution (not implemented) calling for the partition of Palestine into two separate states—an Arab and a Jewish one.
1963: The Beatles' fifth single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was released in Britain.
2001: George Harrison, guitarist for the Beatles, died of cancer at the age of 58.
1981: American actress Natalie Wood drowned under mysterious circumstances while vacationing on a yacht off Santa Catalina Island, California.
1986: Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’ reaches #1 on the Billboard charts