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Cyberinfrastructure Education Network Ransomware Technology

Healthcare’s 2018 threat is crypto mining

Crypto mining attacks are more stealth than WannaCry.

Cybercriminals continue to drive crypto mining attacks on hospital computers. Some crypto mining attacks will require hospitals report a breach of PHI. If the crypto installed is the popular WannaMine, this is considered a reportable ransomware attack.crypto mining
Last year ransomware took the American healthcare industry by storm. Botnets and crypto mining experienced continued growth since 2016. The WannaCry attack on the British health system and NotPetya simply pushed them off the front pages. They did not disappear. Make no mistake, crypto mining is the new attack vector in 2018 after strong growth over the previous two years.

Tennessee hospital EMR server hit with crypto mining

On January 26th, 2018 Decatur County General Hospital in Parsons, Tennessee announced (PDF) that over 20,000 PHI records were compromised by crypto mining software discovered on the hospital’s main electronic medical records server.

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Cyberinfrastructure Education Milwaukee Network Ransomware Technology

Ivanti Patch for Windows

The 2017 Ransomware attacks on healthcare or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Ivanti.

Ivanti’s Patch for Windows helps hospitals, clinics, and health systems mitigate ransomware attacks with agile change management, security controls and third-party patching for healthcare in the age of ransomware.
patch for windows
How did hospitals and clinics come to rely upon Ivanti? In 2017 the healthcare industry was confronted for the first time by a multi-headed monster in ransomware attacks. WannaCry, NotPetya and multiple ransomware strains have forever changed the data security landscape for hospitals, clinics and health systems.

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Cyberinfrastructure Education Milwaukee Network Ransomware Technology

2017 Ransomware attacks on Healthcare

Ransomware attacks on Hospitals and Clinics have just begun

For the first time the healthcare industry was attacked by a multi-headed ransomware monster. This is only the beginning of a new attack model for hospitals and clinics to confront moving forward.
2017 Ransomware attacks

Since the first ransomware attack in early 2016 I have observed how this became a credible threat to hospitals. In 2017 an seemingly overwhelming series of attacks forced hospitals and clinics around the country to adjust long-held views and policies of information security. Due to the amount of news coverage I have added a timeline to this post to indicate how ransomware became part of the social mainstream.

Overview

A ransomware primer in three parts:
Ransomware is not new
PHI data remains highly valuable on the dark web
The Shadow Brokers, Wikileaks, and the CIA

2016 – Setting the stage
February 5th – Hollywood Presbyterian
July 12: HHS issues new guidance

2017 – The attacks begin
May 12: WannaCry IT infrastructure attacks
May 15: WannaCry medical device attacks
June 13: WannaCry building control attacks
June 15: US Congress: Lessons learned from WannaCry
June 29: NotPetya attacks
July 25: Nuance confirms NotPetya attack
October 24: Bad Rabbit attack
December 13: Nuance shuts down medical transcription service

Read more about it

Did hospitals ignore the March Microsoft Security Bulletin?
Ransomware in popular culture
Top 2017 Healthcare Ransomware Attacks
Healthcare, Cyber Insurance, & Ransomware
US Senate Bill S.2179-Data Security & Breach Notification Act