Security News

Ransomware crooks SIM swap medical research biz exec, threaten to leak stolen data
2023-11-01 22:46

Ransomware crooks claim they've stolen data from a firm that helps other organizations run medical trials after one of its executives had their cellphone number and accounts hijacked. The Register understands one or more people close to or affiliated with the notorious Alphv, aka BlackCat, extortion gang managed to get into a work account of an exec at Advarra and may have copied out at least some information from the business.

Friday Squid Blogging: Protecting Cephalopods in Medical Research
2023-09-29 21:07

Cephalopods such as octopuses and squid could soon receive the same legal protection as mice and monkeys do when they are used in research. On 7 September, the US National Institutes of Health asked for feedback on proposed guidelines that, for the first time in the United States, would require research projects involving cephalopods to be approved by an ethics board before receiving federal funding.

Rhysida claims ransomware attack on Prospect Medical, threatens to sell data
2023-08-27 22:37

The Rhysida ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for the massive cyberattack on Prospect Medical Holdings, claiming to have stolen 500,000 social security numbers, corporate documents, and patient records. While PMH did not respond to queries about the security incident, BleepingComputer later learned that the Rhysida ransomware gang was behind the attack.

Medical files of 8M-plus people fall into hands of Clop via MOVEit mega-bug
2023-07-27 20:01

Accounting giant Deloitte, pizza and birthday party chain Chuck E. Cheese, government contractor Maximus, and the Hallmark Channel are among the latest victims that the Russian ransomware crew Clop claims to have compromised via the MOVEit vulnerability. The biz now joins PwC and Ernst and Young - all three big accounting firms - among the hundreds of organizations compromised by Clop via a security hole in vulnerable deployments of the file-transfer tool MOVEit.

India probes medical info 'leak' to Telegram
2023-06-13 03:26

India's tech minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar confirmed "A Telegram Bot was throwing up Co-WIN app details upon entry of phone numbers," but claimed the data came from a previous breach unrelated to Co-WIN. India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare later denied any breach, writing "It is clarified that all such reports are without any basis and mischievous in nature." "Union Health Ministry has requested the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team to look into this issue and submit a report. In addition, an internal exercise has been initiated to review the existing security measures of Co-WIN," states a Ministerial announcement.

Cancer patient sues hospital after ransomware gang leaks her nude medical photos
2023-03-15 20:05

A cancer patient whose nude medical photos and records were posted online after they were stolen by a ransomware gang, has sued her healthcare provider for allowing the "Preventable" and "Seriously damaging" leak. LVHN refused to pay the ransom, and earlier this month BlackCat started leaking patient info, including images of at least two breast cancer patients, naked from the waist up.

Zoll Medical says intruders had 1M+ patient, staff records at their fingertips
2023-03-13 21:30

Medical device and software maker Zoll Medical says the personal and health information of more than a million people, including patients and employees, may have been stolen by crooks in January. Officials with Zoll, a company owned by Japanese multinational chemical company Asahi Kasei and based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, said in the letter that there was no indication that the exposed information has been misused.

Hydrochasma hackers target medical research labs, shipping firms
2023-02-22 15:47

A previously unknown threat actor named Hydrochasma has been targeting shipping and medical laboratories involved in COVID-19 vaccine development and treatments. A characteristic of Hydrochasma attacks is that they rely only on open-source tools and "Living off the land" tactics, leaving no traces that could lead to attribution.

Hydrochasma: New Threat Actor Targets Shipping Companies and Medical Labs in Asia
2023-02-22 10:59

Shipping companies and medical laboratories in Asia have been the subject of a suspected espionage campaign carried out by a never-before-seen threat actor dubbed Hydrochasma. The standout aspects of the campaign is the absence of data exfiltration and custom malware, with the threat actor employing open source tools for intelligence gathering.

Ransomware crooks steal 3m+ patients' medical records, personal info
2023-02-11 02:16

Several California medical groups have sent security breach notification letters to more than three million patients alerting them that crooks may have stolen a ton of their sensitive health and personal information during a ransomware infection in December. According to the Southern California health-care organizations, which include Regal Medical Group, Lakeside Medical Organization, ADOC Medical Group, and Greater Covina Medical, the security breach happened around December 1, 2022.