On May 20, DataBreaches reported that Norton Healthcare in Kentucky and Indiana had disclosed what sounded like a ransomware incident that they discovered on May 9, but they never called it a ransomware incident, even though they stated that they had received faxed threats and demands.
Today, AlphV (BlackCat) claimed responsibility for the attack and leaked about seven dozen files as proof.
In the threat actors’ “public announcement,” BlackCat wrote:
We have provided more than enough time to NORTON’s Executive and Board Members but they’re failed to show bravery to protect privacy of their clients and employees. Simply, They failed to protect confidential data and They’re making false statements in the recent news and lying people that they’ve received fax and shits. They all bullshit over their patients. We would destroy all the data and provide them a detailed security report which would make things easier for everybody If they did take it seriously and communicate with us properly but not.. We believe that CEO and Executive members should be sued because their irresponsibility but they prefer to risk patients data, privacy photos, clinical imaging data for their money!! After all, they care only MONEY, not your safety and well-being !! Now We allow them another week to make payment. If not, we’ll release very interesting data, images belong to all patients and millions of SSN records.. and 25k Employees! THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!! NOW IT’S TIME SHOW YOUR BRAVERY TO YOUR PATIENTS AND EMPLOYEES BECAUSE THIS IS YOUR MISTAKE THAT YOU CAN’T PROTECT YOUR DATA AND DON’T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.
BlackCat also claims to have exfiltrated 4.7 TB of data.That is a great deal of data. Inspection of the dozens of files BlackCat posted as proof tends to confirm their claims about the types of files they got. Although no patient photos were included in the sample, the reference to the photos is a somewhat chilling reminder of what BlackCat did to Lehigh Valley Health Network breast cancer patients whose nude images were dumped. The Norton sample includes personal and sensitive information of patients. It also includes other types of files including images of checks and bank statements, and files with employees’ personnel information such as name, date of birth, and Social Security number.
After their less-than-calm public announcement above and a message to executives, BlackCat also wrote:
We are confident that we will be able to resolve this matter in a confidential, professional, and intelligent manner.
On May 24 — the day before BlackCat’s announcement — Norton updated its website about the incident recovery progress. They wrote, “The event remains under investigation. We continue to bring systems back online and are closer to resuming all operations. Below is updated information about our systems and what patients can expect while the review is underway.” The updated list of services can be found at https://nortonhealthcare.com/news/norton-healthcare-network-update/