Intel 471 took a look back at law enforcement attempts to disrupt ransomware groups and at the recent Operation Cronos. Their timeline begins in 2021. The report looks at the immediate impact of disruptions and then the long-term impact. Do disruptions really make a significant — and lasting — dent in the problem, or are…
Category: Malware
Ransomware group who hit Indonesian government apologizes, hands over encryption key
Laura Dobberstein reports: Brain Cipher, the group responsible for hacking into Indonesia’s Temporary National Data Center (PDNS) and disrupting the country’s services, has seemingly apologized for its actions and released an encryption key to the government. That key was in the form of an 54 kb ESXi file. Its efficacy has not yet been confirmed….
Louisiana Special School District ransomware attack possibly compromised workers’ personal information
Allison Bruhl reports: Louisiana Special School District employees were notified of a cyber attack on Friday, June 28, a little more than a month after it was discovered. According to the superintendent on July 3, the Louisiana State Police’s Cyber Crimes Division was contacted after an Akira ransomware breach was found on May 24. “Our…
Florida Community Health Centers to notify almost 300,000 of ransomware attack
As DataBreaches recently reported, in June 2023, SysInformation Healthcare Services d/b/a EqualizeRCM discovered a ransomware attack. One year later, we still don’t know how many clients and patients were affected. But SysInformation wasn’t the only entity that suffered a ransomware attack in June 2023 that hadn’t sent notifications by now. Florida Community Health Centers (FCHC)…
HHS Office for Civil Rights Settles HIPAA Security Rule Failures for $950,000
Settlement with Heritage Valley Health System marks OCR’s third ransomware settlement as the agency sees 264% increase in large ransomware breaches since 2018 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with Heritage Valley Health System (Heritage Valley), which provides care in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West…
How many clients and patients were affected by a ransomware attack on EqualizeRCM? We have no idea.
On August 17, 2023, SysInformation Healthcare Services, LLC, d/b/a EqualizeRCM (“SysInformation”) notified HHS of a breach. The firm, a business associate that provides revenue and billing cycle management services, reported that 501 patients had been affected. That number is generally interpreted as a placeholder marker when the entity has not yet figured out the real…