- Cyber attack ‘nothing to do with dispute’, says British Medical Association
June 27, 2024
The British Medical Association (BMA) has defended doctors striking at hospitals running at reduced capacity due to a significant cyber attack. While some junior doctors have been granted permission to return to work due to safety concerns, a number have continued with their industrial action at trusts in London hit by the attack. A senior BMA ...
- Ransomware disrupts South Africa’s national health lab
June 26, 2024
South Africa’s response to an ongoing Mpox outbreak is being stymied by a ransomware attack against its National Health Laboratory Service, which resulted in the deletion of backup servers and other parts of its system, hindering lab result dissemination since Saturday. While no patient information was noted to be impacted by the compromise, such an attack ...
- UK and US cops band together to tackle Qilin’s ransomware shakedowns
June 25, 2024
UK and US cops have reportedly joined forces to find and fight Qilin, the ransomware gang wreaking havoc on the global healthcare industry. In early June, the notorious Russia-based crew attacked Synnovis, which provides pathology services to National Health Service’s London hospitals. The digital intrusion has led to the cancellation or postponement of surgeries for thousands ...
- Social Engineering Tactics Targeting Healthcare & Public Health Entities and Providers
June 24, 2024
Access to employees’ email accounts, and then pivoted to specifically target login information related to the processing of reimbursement payments to insurance companies, medicare, or similar entities. To gain initial access to victim networks, the threat actor acquired credentials through social engineering or phishing. In some observed instances, the threat actor called an organization’s IT Help ...
- Change Healthcare confirms the customer data stolen in ransomware attack
June 24, 2024
For the first time since news broke about a ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, the company has released details about the data stolen during the attack. First, a quick refresher: On February 21, 2024, Change Healthcare experienced serious system outages due to a cyberattack. The incident led to widespread billing outages, as well as disruptions at ...
- Stolen test data and NHS numbers published by Qilin hackers
June 21, 2024
A gang of cyber criminals causing huge disruption to multiple London hospitals has published sensitive patient data stolen from an NHS blood testing company. Overnight on Thursday, Qilin shared almost 400GB of the private information on their darknet site. The gang has been trying to extort money from NHS provider Synnovis since they hacked the firm ...
- London Hospitals Knew of Cyber Vulnerabilities Years Before Hack
June 14, 2024
A group of London hospitals struggling to contain the fallout from a cyberattack against a critical supplier had known for years about weaknesses that left them vulnerable to hacks, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News. The Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, which runs five major hospitals in the London area, has failed to ...
- Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic
June 14, 2024
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus. It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by ...
- Black Basta ransomware group suspected in Ascension data theft incident
June 13, 2024
U.S. healthcare provider Ascension has provided more details of its “cyber security event” last month, admitting that data was stolen, with some reports also suggesting that the Black Basta ransomware gang was behind the attack. One of the largest nonprofit and Catholic health systems in the U.S. and also the second-largest operator of hospitals in the ...
- London hospitals hit by cyber attack highlights urgent need for cyber security in critical industries
June 11, 2024
Recent cyber-attacks have disrupted services at major London hospitals, this is a stark reminder of the persistent cyber security threats that our critical industries are facing every day. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is hosting the Cyber Security for Critical Industries Conference this September, to draw attention to the prevalence of these threats ...
- Law firm Kirkland sued in class action over MOVEit data breach
June 10, 2024
U.S. law firm Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s largest law firm by revenue, has been pulled into U.S. litigation over a wide-ranging data breach linked to a file transfer tool that compromised data at hundreds of organizations. A proposed class action, opens new tab filed on Friday accused Kirkland and several other companies, including health insurer ...
- Hundreds of Snowflake customer passwords found online are linked to info-stealing malware
June 5, 2024
Cloud data analysis company Snowflake is at the center of a recent spate of alleged data thefts, as its corporate customers scramble to understand if their stores of cloud data have been compromised. Snowflake helps some of the largest global corporations — including banks, healthcare providers and tech companies — store and analyze their vast amounts ...
- MediSecure put into administration weeks after massive data breach
June 5, 2024
Online prescription provider MediSecure has collapsed into administration and liquidation just weeks after a large-scale ransomware attack resulted in customer details being leaked on the dark web. The Melbourne-based health provider last month confirmed the massive data breach had taken place, with the personal information and some limited health information of people who used the service ...
- Hospitals in London declared critical incident after cyber-attack
June 4, 2024
Major hospitals in London have declared a critical incident after a cyber-attack led to operations being cancelled and emergency patients being diverted elsewhere. It applies to hospitals partnered with Synnovis – a provider of pathology services. King’s College Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ – including the Royal Brompton and the Evelina London Children’s Hospital – and ...
- UK: The Princess of Wales’s hospital data breach not referred to police due to suspected ‘decoy’ plan
June 3, 2024
The Princess of Wales’s hospital data breach has not been referred to police as an expert explains that a “decoy” plan could have been in use – meaning her actual medical files were not accessed by the perpetrators. Despite Health Minister Maria Caulfield revealing back in March that the police had been asked to look into ...
- ‘People’s lives are at risk’: Ascension ransomware attack going on nearly three weeks
May 29, 2024
A ransomware attack on a major US hospital network that began three weeks ago is endangering patients’ health as nurses are forced to manually enter prescription information and work without electronic health records, nurses at two hospitals affected by the cyberattack told CNN. “It’s putting patients’ lives in danger,” said a nurse who works at Ascension ...
- Data breach at medical giant Cencora exposes info from multiple drug companies
May 27, 2024
Almost a dozen pharmaceutical companies, including several major players, have lost sensitive customer data due to a supply chain cyberattack that trickled down from pharma giant Cencora. In late February 2024, drug wholesale company Cencora (previously known as AmerisourceBergen) filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), reporting a data breach incident, without ...
- LockBit demands $25 million from Canadian pharmacy chain London Drugs after ransomware attack
May 23, 2024
The recent cyber-incident against Canadian pharmacy chain London Drugs was indeed a full-blown ransomware attack, with sensitive data being stolen, and a major ransom being demanded, the company has confirmed. In a statement given to The Register, the company said it had been hit, but stressed it also had no intention of paying the ransom demand. ...
- London council warns residents’ data may have been compromised by cyber attack on healthcare provider
May 22, 2024
A London council has warned residents their personal data may have been compromised after a healthcare provider was hit by a cyber attack. The City of London Corporation said it is working with NRS Healthcare to understand the extent of the breach, and will be in contact with any residents whose information has been taken. The ...
- HHS puts $50M toward hospitals’ ransomware fight
May 20, 2024
A new agency within the National Institutes of Health is launching a $50 million initiative to develop tools for hospital IT teams that enhance their cybersecurity measures and resources to combat ransomware. On May 20, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health introduced its Universal PatchinG and Remediation for Autonomous DEfense, or UPGRADE, program. “What if ...