Monthly Breach Deets - St. Joseph's/Candler Hospital Health System Ransomware

St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital Health System experienced a ransomware attack when a user gained access to the company network system. According to HIPAA Journal, 1.4 million patients of St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital Health System in Georgia had been accessed by hackers.

The attack resulted in the encryption of files and forced the hospital’s IT systems offline. The systems accessed by the hackers contained the following protected health information:

• First and last names
• Driver's license numbers
• Health insurance information
• Social Security numbers
• Healthcare data
• Financial information

This cost the St. Joseph's/Candler Hospital Health System an estimated $28,345,300, according to eRiskHub.

How this could have been prevented

Ransomware continues to be a huge threat especially with the shifting security landscape. Hackers continue to get smarter with how they steal data and it will continue to be this way. Unfortunately, criminals can get their hands on ransomware too easily on the dark web and a user unknowingly or knowingly goes to a malicious site that downloads a file on your computer. Most ransomware typically starts this way and it mimics a real site. 

Prevention, prevention and prevention:

1. Awareness - make your employees aware of how easily this can happen and have them go through ransomware attack training to test their awareness

2. Don't click on links or open suspicious email attachments - educate your employees on how to identify suspicious email attachments and links 

3. Keep your computers up-to-date

4. Keep your operating systems up-to-date

5. Use a VPN Network instead of public wi-fi

VGM Forbin would be happy to consult you on security software and other ransomware security needs for your facility. Let us know if you'd like to schedule a free consultation today!