Weekly Cybersecurity Recap March 17
Table of Contents
- By Steven
- Published: Mar 17, 2023
- Last Updated: Nov 23, 2023
Cyber attacks are targeted at significant organizations, and this week is an excellent reminder that medical facilities aren't safe. Along with AT&T and Minneapolis Schools, three different medical establishments were hit and suffered from a loss of information in one way or another. Zoll, a Medical device and technologies company suffered staggering losses, while Cerebral gave up mental health information and Lawrence General Hospital lost HIPAA-protected information. Digital information is always at risk of being stolen, and even your information at the local hospital could be compromised.
AT&T
Basic AT&T Customer data was stolen from vendors marketing for the company, giving up some general details for approximately 9 million customers. Most of the data taken wasn't private and instead was about customer rate plans, their number of lines, and other service-specific details. AT&T customers aren't expected to suffer from any significant issues due to this attack.
Minneapolis Schools
Minneapolis public schools were hit by a recent ransomware attack that demanded a payment of $1 Million to unlock the personal data encrypted on the school network. A gang of hackers broke into the school network and began encrypting important files and documents. The school refused to pay the ransom and instead restored the files from a backup. Students and faculty may have had their personal information, including some financial documents, exposed due to this attack.
Zoll Medical
Zoll Medical is a health systems technology company that provides its services to EMS services, rescuers, and fire companies to help them do their jobs effectively. Zoll even works with the U.S. Government offering its services. This health-related company was hit by a recent cyber attack that has the potential to expose more than 1 million people. The attack may have released the names, addresses, birth dates, and even Social Security numbers of many of these individuals, but we don't have all the details about what was taken.
Cerebral
Cerebral is an online mental health service that's attempting to make mental health services more accessible to people. The company exposed itself to major companies like Google, TikTok, and Meta thanks to the tracking tools it was using. These major companies gained access to personal health information about patients using Cerebral, and the companies aren't required to dispose of this data. This mistake released private information for thousands of patients, and that data may be used for marketing purposes by these major organizations.
Lawrence General Hospital
Lawrence General Hospital is our final covered target for the week. This major hospital employs nearly 2,000 individuals and serves thousands at the large full-scale medical facility. As many as 76,000 people were exposed to this attack, and they could have had their private health information leaked by the attackers. The hospital is working to restore proper security to its systems, but it won't be able to get the stolen information back.
Between all these different organizations, a huge amount of medical and personal data was stolen this week. Each of the organizations is working hard to secure themselves more effectively, but the sheer number of serious attacks demonstrates that most major companies still aren't secure enough to trust your data without fear.
