Tag Archive for: data breach

Cyber News Roundup for May 9, 2024

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Cuckoo malware, a paralyzed city of Wichita, and early cybersecurity preparations for the upcoming Olympics made headlines this week. RedSeal is here to keep you informed and equipped to fortify your cyber defenses in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

 

1. Cuckoo malware targets macOS systems

Cybersecurity researchers at Kandji have identified a new malware called Cuckoo targeting Apple macOS systems. It’s designed as a universal Mach-O binary, compatible with both Intel and ARM-based Macs, and found on websites offering music ripping and MP3 conversion tools. Cuckoo establishes persistence via a LaunchAgent and employs a locale check to avoid execution in Russia or Ukraine. It tricks users into providing system passwords through fake password prompts for escalated privileges and performs extensive data harvesting. This includes capturing hardware information, running processes, installed apps, screenshots, and sensitive data from iCloud Keychain, Apple Notes, web browsers, crypto wallets, and various applications like Discord and Steam. The associated malicious application bundles are signed with a valid developer ID. (Kandji)

 

2. Secretary of State Blinken is set to unveil a new international cybersecurity strategy at the RSA Conference in San Francisco

The Biden administration is set to introduce a new international cybersecurity strategy, marking the first U.S. global cyber strategy in over a decade, aimed at bolstering global cooperation against cyber threats. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will unveil the strategy at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. This strategic plan targets enhancing cybersecurity through four main pillars: establishing a secure digital ecosystem, promoting rights-respecting digital technology with allies, forming coalitions against cyberattacks, and boosting cybersecurity resilience among partner nations. A key element of this strategy is the allocation of $50 million to the newly formed Cyberspace and Digital Connectivity fund, aimed at supporting cybersecurity improvements in allied countries.

Additionally, the strategy emphasizes a proactive role in cyber diplomacy at the United Nations and seeks to develop global norms for emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). The U.S. aims to foster international consensus on AI usage and cyber conduct. The strategy’s implementation is considered urgent, with efforts intensifying in the months leading up to the November presidential election, reflecting the need for consistent U.S. leadership in global cybersecurity irrespective of potential administration changes. (Politico)

 

3. Chinese-linked ArcaneDoor targets global network infrastructure

A new cyber espionage campaign named ArcaneDoor, potentially linked to Chinese actors, has targeted network devices from vendors like Cisco, starting in July 2023 with the first attack detected in January 2024, according Censys. The attacks involved custom malware, Line Runner and Line Dancer, and exploited patched vulnerabilities in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances. The findings indicate the involvement of a China-based threat actor, given that key infrastructure used SSL certificates linked to Chinese networks and hosted services related to anti-censorship tools. (The Hacker News)

 

4. Largest city in Kansas paralyzed by ransomware attack

Another city government faces the implications of a ransomware attack. The city of Wichita, Kansas was forced to shut down portions of its network over the weekend after its IT systems were encrypted with ransomware. Bleeping Computer reports: payment systems for city water, court citations, and tickets are down. There is no additional information regarding whether any information was compromised or which ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack. (Bleeping Computer)

 

5. Microsoft warns Android developers to steer clear of the Dirty Stream

Microsoft has issued a warning to Android app users and developers about a new attack method called Dirty Stream, which exploits a path traversal vulnerability within Android’s content provider component, particularly the ‘FileProvider’ class. This vulnerability can lead to the takeover of apps and theft of sensitive data. Notably affected are popular apps like Xiaomi File Manager and WPS Office, which together boast over 1.5 billion installs. The vulnerability has been identified in applications totaling four billion installations and could potentially be present in other apps. Dirty Stream allows malicious apps to overwrite files in another app’s directory, facilitating arbitrary code execution and token theft. This can give attackers complete control over the app and access to user accounts. Microsoft has informed affected developers, who have patched their apps, and urges all developers to review their apps for this security flaw. Google has also published guidance for developers on handling this issue. (Security Week)

 

6. French cybersecurity teams prepare for “unprecedented” Olympic threat

Jérémy Couture, who is in charge of the cybersecurity hub for the event being held in Paris in July, says his goal is to have his team’s activities perceived as a “non-event” by successfully fending off attacks from nation state actors, hacktivists, thrill seekers, and everyone else. He adds that it’s not just the games themselves that need protecting, but also the infrastructure that supports them, such as transport networks and supply chains. Russia, which is banned from these games, is of particular focus, but, officials state, they are looking at everything. (Security Week)

 

7. Ascension health system disrupted by cyberattack

 US health system Ascension has sustained a cyberattack that disrupted some of its systems, the Record reports. The organization, which runs 140 hospitals across the country, stated, “Our care teams are trained for these kinds of disruptions and have initiated procedures to ensure patient care delivery continues to be safe and as minimally impacted as possible. There has been a disruption to clinical operations, and we continue to assess the impact and duration of the disruption.” The nonprofit is working with Mandiant to respond to the incident. (The Record)

 

8. Mobile medical provider DocGo discloses data breach

Mobile health service provider DocGo has disclosed a cyberattack that led to the theft of patient health information, BleepingComputer reports. The company stated in an SEC filing, “Promptly after detecting unauthorized activity, the Company took steps to contain and respond to the incident, including launching an investigation, with assistance from leading third-party cybersecurity experts, and notifying relevant law enforcement. As part of its investigation, the Company has determined that the threat actor accessed and acquired data, including certain protected health information, from a limited number of healthcare records within the Company’s U.S.-based ambulance transportation business, and that no other business lines have been involved.”(Bleepingcomputer)

 

9. MedStar Health sustains breach

Maryland-based healthcare organization MedStar Health sustained a data breach affecting more than 183,000 patients, the Record reports. A hacker gained access to the data through email accounts belonging to three MedStar employees. The threat actor was able to access “patients’ names, mailing addresses, dates of birth, date(s) of service, provider name(s), and/or health insurance information.”The company said in a breach notification, “Patients whose information may have been involved are encouraged to review statements they receive related to their healthcare. If they identify anything unusual related to the healthcare services or the charges for services, they should contact the healthcare entity or health insurer immediately.” (The Record, MedStar Health)

 

10. US indicts LockBit ransomware ringleader

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) charged the mastermind behind the notorious LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation. The DoJ unmasked 31-year-old Russian National, Dimitry Yuryevich Khoroshev (also known as LockBitSupp, LockBit, and putinkrab) in a 26-count indictment that includes charges of fraud, extortion, and damaging protected computers. The charges carry a combined maximum penalty of 185 years in prison. Khoroshev is accused of designing LockBit, recruiting affiliates and maintaining LockBit’s infrastructure and leak site. Khoroshev allegedly received over $100 million in proceeds from the ransom payments. The US is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to Khoroshev’s arrest. Sanctions were also announced on Tuesday by the United Kingdom and Australia. (SecurityWeek)

 

11. CISA is moving the needle on vulnerability remediation

CISA launched its Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot in January 2023, and issued 1,754  warning notices to entities with vulnerable internet-accessible devices in its first year. The agency said that nearly half (for a total of 852) of these notifications resulted in organizations either patching, briefly taking systems offline to fix the issue, or otherwise mitigating exploitable flaws. The pilot program is set to launch as a fully automated warning system by the end of next year.

Another CISA-led initiative called Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV), which the agency introduced in 2021, is also speeding up vuln remediation times. The KEV is designed to notify government agencies and enterprises of high-risk threats in the wild. Bitsight reported that critical KEVs are remediated 2.6 times faster than a non-KEV threats, while high-severity KEVs are fixed 1.8 times faster. Non-profits and NGOs are the slowest to remediate, while tech companies and insurance and financial firms are the fastest.(The Register and Dark Reading)

 

12. Lockbit takes credit for Wichita attack

The pernicious ransomware organization added the city of Wichita to its leak site, giving officials until May 15th to pay an unspecified ransom. We previously covered the city’s announcement of the attack over the weekend. In the wake of the attack, city officials say it can only accept cash or checks for all city services, although the city will not shut off water services as a result until regular payment methods come back online. This attack also comes on the heels of the US law enforcement agencies publicly naming the suspected leader of LockBit, Dmitry Khoroshev. (The Record)

 

Have questions? Reach out to RedSeal today to chat with one of our cybersecurity experts.

Understanding the UnitedHealthcare Data Breach: The Importance of Good Segmentation

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After receiving a call from KCBS to comment on the UnitedHealthcare data breach, I was reminded of the critical importance of cybersecurity measures and proactive solutions like RedSeal in safeguarding sensitive information.

The Impact on Patients and Healthcare Organizations

The repercussions of the UnitedHealthcare data breach extend beyond the confines of the company itself. Patients whose personal and medical information may have been compromised face the unsettling reality of potential identity theft, fraud, privacy breaches, and in this case, health implications with a nationwide outage of some of the largest prescription processors. Moreover, healthcare organizations are left vulnerable to reputational damage, legal liabilities, and regulatory penalties.

The swift response by Change Healthcare to halt the spread of the incident is commendable. By implementing effective containment measures and building segmentation into network design, they demonstrated the importance of proactive cybersecurity strategies especially in mitigating the impact of such breaches.

Segmentation: Building Stronger Defenses

In the face of evolving cyber threats, healthcare organizations must prioritize robust cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive data and maintain the trust of their patients. A critical step, which Change Healthcare executed effectively, is incorporating segmentation into network design. This strategic approach enabled them to isolate and contain potential threats, shutting down access swiftly.

By dividing networks into distinct segments and implementing access controls based on user roles and permissions, organizations can contain breaches and limit the lateral movement of attackers within their infrastructure.

The Importance of Transparency and Disclosure

Another noteworthy aspect of the UnitedHealthcare data breach is the transparency and prompt disclosure of pertinent details surrounding the incident. Unlike in years past, where data breaches were often shrouded in secrecy and only disclosed months or even years later, the current landscape emphasizes the importance of timely and transparent communication.

Moving Forward: Strengthening Cyber Defenses

As the healthcare industry continues to confront evolving cyber threats, proactive measures and collaborative efforts are essential to fortify defenses and safeguard sensitive information.

By embracing cybersecurity solutions and prioritizing segmentation and transparency, healthcare organizations can mitigate risks, protect patient data, and uphold the integrity of their operations. As the adage goes, “good fences make good neighbors,” and investing in robust cybersecurity defenses is paramount to safeguarding the future of healthcare.

RedSeal can play a pivotal role in enhancing security.

RedSeal acts as a vital tool in mapping out defensive boundaries within the network. It provides organizations with a comprehensive overview of their network architecture, allowing them to understand how different segments interact and where potential vulnerabilities lie. With RedSeal, organizations can accurately assess their defensive posture and make informed decisions to block moving threats before they spread.

In times of uncertainty, one thing remains clear: proactive cybersecurity measures and innovative solutions like RedSeal are indispensable allies in the ongoing battle against cyber threats. Let us heed the lessons learned from this incident and collectively work towards a safer and more secure future for all.

Contact us for a demo www.redseal.net

How to Navigate the Shifting Healthcare Cybersecurity Landscape

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Cyberattacks and data breaches in the healthcare sector are increasing at an alarming rate, especially during the pandemic when patient communications and records moved online.

Between March 2021 and February 2022, over 42,076,805 healthcare records were exposed. Businesses lose an average of $10.10 million per healthcare data breach, while lost or stolen protected health information (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII) cost the U.S. healthcare industry billions of dollars annually.

Valuable data makes healthcare organizations a prime target for cybercriminals. Meanwhile, the fast-shifting technology landscape makes it more challenging than ever to keep up with the latest cybersecurity best practices.

Let’s look at the many factors causing today’s cybersecurity nightmare and how you can navigate the changing healthcare cybersecurity landscape with the right technology and processes.

The Healthcare Sector Faces Ongoing Cybersecurity Challenges

The healthcare industry is complex. Various factors have come together in recent years to create the perfect storm for bad actors to breach networks and steal data.

High-Value Target Data: PHI and medical records are sought after by criminals because they’re worth 10 to 20 times the value of credit card data on the dark web. Meanwhile, biomedical and pharmaceutical research and development data drive a $160-billion industry. Criminals can often use the stolen credential to breach multiple targeted systems, giving threat actors many ways to cause damage through lateral movements.

Fast Adoption of New Technologies: The healthcare industry has been implementing connected medical devices (medical IoT) at a rapid pace. The equipment often uses unregulated mobile applications for processing and transmitting PHI and PII. Additionally, many facilities don’t have the proper security protocols to support the proliferation of devices connected to their networks — creating a large attack surface cybercriminals can exploit.

Overworked and Undertrained Personnel: Employee training is key to preventing social engineering schemes, phishing scams, and ransomware attacks — after all, it takes only one staff member to open one malicious attachment to infect the entire system. However, many healthcare facilities fail to provide sufficient cybersecurity education to their employees. Even end users with the knowledge and best intention often let their guard down because of environmental factors, such as distraction and excessive workload.

Competing Operational Priorities: Operational needs, often urgent, require personnel to prioritize speed of information sharing over data security. Meanwhile, facilities must comply with large-scale data portability regulations that require them to make health records and other sensitive information available in digital and sharable formats. These processes can increase the risks of data breaches if providers don’t have the proper security measures in place.

Budgetary Constraints: Healthcare organizations have limited IT budgets, and their tech teams are often stretched thin. They spend most resources on acquiring and implementing new technology solutions to stay current and competitive, leaving few to secure and maintain their networks. Many organizations don’t have in-house security teams and often outsource the function without assigning any internal stakeholders to coordinate the activities or monitor the outcomes.

Inconsistent Cyber Hygiene: Many healthcare facilities are stuck with legacy systems that are no longer supported by the vendor and can’t be upgraded with the latest security features. As such, they introduce permanent vulnerabilities into the organizations’ networks. Additionally, integrating new and old technology solutions may create interoperability dependencies, network segmentation risks, and blind spots hackers can exploit.

The Pandemic Caused New Issues in Healthcare Cybersecurity

The healthcare industry played a front-and-center role during the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated the rapid adoption of digital technologies. While the accelerated digital transformation brought many benefits, it also created various cybersecurity concerns.

An Abrupt Shift to Remote Working: Many non-frontline functions moved to a remote working environment in response to lockdowns. Healthcare organizations lack the time and resources to provide adequate security training to remote workers, implement endpoint protection capabilities, and develop remote system backup and recovery plans to build business resiliency and protect themselves from the consequences of ransomware attacks and data loss.

Rapid Procurement and Implementation of Security Tools: The rapid transition to cloud-based platforms for the new hybrid work environment increased the likelihood of misconfigured security settings and mismanaged security tool deployments. Many organizations also lack plans to maintain and sustain the new platforms and technologies, leading to oversight and creating opportunities for threat actors to strike.

Duration and Scope of the Global Crisis: The pandemic created long-term uncertainty. It increases the stress on individuals and society, which, in turn, raises the population’s susceptibility to social engineering. Meanwhile, the need for coordinated responses from facilities across the nation and authorities around the world requires unconventional partnerships and data-sharing practices that caused chain reactions, increased risk factors, and exposed vulnerabilities.

Navigating the Cybersecurity Nightmare in Healthcare: Today’s complex cybersecurity landscape isn’t easy to navigate, especially in the high-stakes healthcare sector. The rise of remote work and telemedicine, plus the proliferation of connected medical devices, has increased the attack surface dramatically. Budget constraints, competing priorities, and lack of employee training leave a lot of opportunities for hackers to exploit. Also, healthcare providers must comply with increasingly stringent data privacy laws to avoid fines and lawsuits.

A Multi-Layer Approach to Cybersecurity: You need a multi-prong approach to address various challenges. The process starts with gaining visibility across all your network environments to understand who has access to what information. Then, prioritize vulnerabilities and resolve gaps in your scan coverage.

Don’t forget to address all your cloud platforms, especially if you have a hybrid environment that combines cloud applications with legacy software where the connections can become weak links and blind spots. Moreover, you must stay current with all relevant data privacy laws, adhere to the latest security configuration standards, and ensure that your vendors and partners are also compliant to protect your data from supply chain attacks.

RedSeal can help you build a solid foundation by creating in-depth visualizations of your security infrastructure. We then use the insights to prioritize your vulnerabilities and automate your compliance process. Get in touch to see how we can help you assess, remediate, and mitigate your security processes and infrastructure.