Security News > 2023 > November > Cybersecurity firm executive pleads guilty to hacking hospitals
The former chief operating officer of a cybersecurity company has pleaded guilty to hacking two hospitals, part of the Gwinnett Medical Center, in June 2021 to boost his company's business.
Vikas Singla, who worked for Securolytics, a network security company that provided services to the healthcare industry, pleaded guilty to hacking into the systems of GMC Northside Hospital hospitals in Duluth and Lawrenceville, as prosecutors said in a June 2021 indictment.
During his attack on September 27, 2018, he disrupted the health provider's phone and network printer services, and he stole the personal information of more than 200 patients from a Hologic R2 Digitizer digitizing device connected to a mammogram machine on GMC's Lawrenceville hospital.
On the same day, Singla used over 200 printers in the GMC hospital in Duluth to print stolen patient information and "WE OWN YOU" messages.
Singla "Promoted" the GMC hack on Twitter, tweeting the names, dates of birth, and sexes of 43 patients whose data had been stolen in the breach.
Cyberattack on health services provider impacts 5 Canadian hospitals.