The following is a snapshot of recent attacks on U.S. healthcare entities by ransomware teams.
#1 First Choice Community Healthcare – Hive
Hive threat actors have never sworn off attacking the healthcare sector. In addition to claiming that they attacked the Partnership HealthPlan of California on March 19 (an attack that has impacted PHPC’s functioning), they now also claim to have attacked First Choice Community Healthcare in New Mexico on March 28.
As proof of claim, Hive provided archived files containing what appears to be FCCH’s patient-related information, financial information, and personnel/HR-related files. They did not make any specific claim as to the total number of files they acquired or the total filesize they claim to possess.
Hours after posting the listing, however, Hive removed it. DataBreaches.net notes that the PHPC listing also appears to be missing from Hive’s leak site. Whether it has been removed for updating or because the victim is trying to negotiate with Hive is unknown to DataBreaches.net
#2 McKenzie Health System – Avos Locker
FCCH wasn’t the only new healthcare entity listed on a leak site today. Avos Locker threat actors added McKenzie Health System in Michigan to their leak site. Avos Locker offered some proof of claim, but it seemed like it was not designed to really convince anyone that the attackers had acquired a lot of sensitive data. One of the files did contain health insurance information, however, which is protected health information.
Avos Locker made no claim about how much data they might have acquired from McKenzie.
Neither FCCH nor McKenzie have any statements on their website at the time of this publication and neither has yet to respond to inquiries DataBreaches.net sent them earlier today, so neither of them has actually confirmed or denied the claimed breaches. As these are developing stories, they will be updated as more information becomes available.
[See Update 3 below for McKenzie update]
#3 Val Verde Regional Medical Center – LockBit
As DataBreaches.net tweeted this morning, LockBit threat actors planned to dump more data from Val Verde Regional Medical Center (VVRMC) after the center did not cooperate with them.
#VVRMC needs better incident response. They didn’t reply to #Lockbit‘s claims and leak of alleged patient data last month & there is still nothing on their site. Now Lockbit is dumping more data? VVRMC needs to say something. Have they confirmed the data are theirs or not?
— Dissent Doe, PhD (@PogoWasRight) April 7, 2022
The VVRMC attack was first reported by DataBreaches.net on March 25, after more than one week of VVRMC failing to reply to this site’s inquiries. Will LockBit really dump another 150 GB of data as they threatened? Check back tomorrow to find out.
#4 Oklahoma City Indian Clinic – Suncrypt
As reported on March 28, Suncrypt attacked the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic.
#5 Cytometry Specialists, Inc. (dba CSI Laboratories) – Conti
As reported on March 26, Conti hit CSI Laboratories. CSI reported the incident to HHS as impacting 312,000 patients.
#6 An Attack on an EHR Software Firm?
The preceding incidents are not the only hits on the healthcare sector revealed in the past few weeks. There have been other ransomware incidents revealed but the attackers were not named in any public disclosure.
DataBreaches.net is currently investigating a report that an attack on a software firm has left healthcare entities using its EHR system unable to access patient records at all or in part. The software vendor, whose identity is known to this site, has not made a public disclosure yet and has not yet replied to DataBreaches.net’s email inquiry. Unlike the incidents reported above, this would be a business associate or supply-chain attack, possibly affecting many covered entities and their patients.
Is There Any Good News?
Maybe. Go read Joe Uchill’s report, Ransomware negotiations are taking longer (and that’s a good thing).
Update1, April 8: LockBit has yet to dump any new data from Val Verde Regional Medical Center. DataBreaches will continue to monitor the leak site and update this post as appropriate.
Update2, April 8: LockBit dumped the data. Even just a list of filenames reveals PHI.
Update 3, May 12: McKenzie Health reported the incident to HHS on May 10 as impacting 25,318 patients. They also mailed notification letters that day and uploaded a notice to their website. Their notice did not mention that this was a ransomware evidence or that threat actors had actually dumped some of the data already.