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 Message 1551 
 August Abolins to Mike Powell 
 hackers targeting hospita 
 07 May 20 21:04:00 
 
MSGID: 2:221/1.58@fidonet e4329dc1
REPLY: 100.fidoinet@1:2320/105 2319aec7
PID: OpenXP/5.0.43 (Win32)
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TZUTC: -0400
Hello Mike!

** On Thursday 07.05.20 - 16:58, Mike Powell wrote to AUGUST ABOLINS:

 >> Eg. People at work don't need to access Facebook or expose company
 >> computers to malicious site

 MP> Well... where I work, we have people whose job it is to locate persons.
 MP> One of the sources they use is Facebook.  For whatever reason, a lot of
 MP> less than intelligent crooks will try to send us false contact data but
 MP> then post all about themselves on social media.  :)

OK..  I see the relevance for collection agencies especially when needing  
to locate persons.  But even then, it would be wise to isolate work  
terminals for internet searches from the internal network used for  
accessing company accounts.

But I was thinking of places like hospitals and medical centers. In  
October last year a large medical center with offices all over the  
province/country was struck with a security breach.  Then, a month later  
it was announced that is was ransomware.  This was clearly activated by  
clicking on a false link.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/lifelabs-data-breach-the- 
largest-ever-in-canada-may-cost-the-company-over-1-billion-in-class- 
action-lawsuit/

"15 million Canadians affected is over 40% of all Canadians".

"In the public statement, LifeLabs indicated that they made some sort of a  
payment to retrieve the stolen data. The company did not elaborate on the  
nature of the attack."

Ha.  The nature was ransomeware, and some old ninny probably clicked on  
fake link in their personal email or on a non-company related website.


Then, there were a few other ones earlier than that:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/ransomware-ryuk-ontario-hospitals- 
1.5308180

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/rural-hospitals-in- 
southwest-ontario-hit-by-ransomware-attack-1.5301947

"The main vector for attacks is people, through phishing or the more  
targeted spearphishing attacks," in which hackers gather information using  
deceptive emails or websites, he explains. "Ninety percent of breaches  
start with a person."

The solution seems simple enough.  Disallow access to unapproved  
destinations, especially from the computers that are networked to patient  
records!


  ../|ug

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