Cyber Stories: American hospitals fall victim to ransomware attack

It has been confirmed that at least three American healthcare providers have fallen victim to a data breach after a cyber-attack on an administrative services company in Texas, U.S. Following an investigation, it was confirmed that CaptureRx had files containing the personal health information (PHI) of more than 24,000 individuals, which were accessed without authorisation via a ransomware attack that took place on the 6th of February 2021.

What has been the impact of these attacks?

Data exposed and stolen by the ransomware attackers included names, dates of birth, prescription information, and — for a limited number of patients — medical record numbers. Fortunately, as of yet there has been no evidence to suggest that the data stolen in the attack has been misused. Those whose files have been breached have been advised to closely monitor their bank accounts for any incidences of fraudulent activity.

How could it have been prevented?

To reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim of a ransomware attack, it's important to be prepared. The chances of your company being infected can be significantly reduced both by security software and by paying sufficient attention. By using anti-ransomware, you can avoid a situation in which you have to pay horrendous sums for the possible release of your data. Ransomware infections can occur in a multitude of ways, such as through insecure and fraudulent websites, software downloads and by spam mail.

How can you stop this from happening to your business?

An essential step towards staying protected against ransomware attacks is to keep all of your business’ software and operating systems updated.

At Vambrace, we test your systems and applications, as well as the knowledge of your staff to verify the strength of your organisation’s protection against advanced forms of ransomware. We have a broad range of testing services such as Infrastructure Testing, Web Application Penetration Testing and Wireless Testing to name a few.

For more information on how you can make your business cyber secure, take a look at the approach we take at Vambrace and do not hesitate to talk directly to one of our cybersecurity professionals.