Pennsylvania Ransomware Attack Leads to Significant Breach
An unknown ransomware variant hit the Women’s Health Group, located in Pennsylvania. The ransomware hit impacted 45 offices. However, officials reported the encrypted data was restored through the backup system.
The ransomware attack also lead to a significant security breach, impacting approximately 300,000 patient files. The information breached includes patient names, social security numbers, birth dates, pregnancy histories, blood type information, lab results, medical record numbers, insurance information and medical diagnoses. HealthCare IT News reported concerns the hackers would use the information to fraudulently contact patients, claiming to be from the insurance company. Upon doing so, they would likely demand payment for services that never took place, or claim additional funds are due for previous care services. There is also a concern the hackers could steal the patient’s identity.
The Women’s Healthcare Group made the following statement,
“Maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of our patients’ personal information is very important to us, officials said in a statement. “We’re conducting a comprehensive internal review of our information security practices and procedures to help prevent such events in the future.”
Other Attacks
To see a full list of ransomware attacks that have taken place this year, you can click here. We have also created a ransomware map, see below, of the ransomware attacks that have taken place in the U.S.
