Security News > 2021 > May > 200K Veterans’ Medical Records May Have Been Stolen by Ransomware Gang

UPDATE. A database filled with the medical records of nearly 200,000 U.S. military veterans was exposed online by a vendor working for the Veterans Administration, according to an analyst, who also presented evidence the data might have been exfiltrated by ransomware attackers.

United Valor is a North Carolina-based company which "Provides disability evaluation services for the Veterans Administration and other federal and state agencies," according to its site.

"The dataset also contained a ransomware message titled"read me" that claimed all of the records were downloaded and they would be leaked unless 0.15 Bitcoin was paid," Fowler explained.

"The forensic audit or IP review of outside access conducted by the contractor should have also identified the ransomware intrusion and the multiple internet-of-things search-engine spiders that indexed the exposed database. This appears to contradict what the contractors told United Valor."

Healthcare, even more than other sectors, needs to get protections in place against ransomware attacks, Untangle's Heather Paunet explained to Threatpost.

Last September, Universal Health Services, which operates a national network of hospitals, was hit by Ryuk with a ransomware attack.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/veterans-medical-records-ransomware/166025/