patching for windows Archives

I was humbled to be considered a guest on Ivanti’s Interchange Podcast addressing ransomware in healthcare.

I added their new series to my collection of InfoSec podcasts as soon as our Hospital server team acquired Ivanti’s Patch for Windows service back in June. In this timeframe, I suggested to our Hospital’s IT patch subcommittee to consider adding Ivanti’s Patch Tuesday Webinar series into our meeting schedule.

Ivanti launched their monthly webinar in April 2017 and provide a solid overview to Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday releases. This also includes key third-party updates from Adobe, Google, and Mozilla.

After registering for October’s webinar, by chance an out-of-the-blue a marketing specialist from Ivanti called. When I confirmed our participation in the coming Patch webinar, they suggested considering their new IT Interchange Podcast. I believe they were pleasantly surprised that I was able to recite all their podcast topics.

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