Systems Reboot to Manage ‘Cybersecuirty Threat’ at Arkansas Children’s Hospital
Arkansas Children’s Hospital established in Little Rock had a cyberattack impacting Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Arkansas Children’s Northwest. The hospital had to reboot its IT systems to control the cybersecurity threat and had the incident investigated by an independent digital forensics firm.
There is no report yet concerning the precise nature of the cyberattack. It is likewise not yet known when the attack is going to be resolved. All Arkansas Children’s Hospital facilities still offer patient care, though non-urgent consultations were rescheduled.
The attack is still under investigation but no evidence of patient data breach has been found yet.
Cryptominer Attack at the University of Kentucky
Last February 2020, the University of Kentucky (UK) is struggling with the removal of downloaded malware on its network. Cybercriminals had accessed the UK network and were able to download cryptocurrency mining malware which used the UK computers’ processing functionality for mining Bitcoin and a variety of cryptocurrencies.
The malware caused a massive network slowdown along with temporary computer system problems triggering repeated daily interruptions to day-to-day functions, specifically at UK healthcare.
The UK is certain that the attack was resolved after working on it for a month. On Sunday morning, the UK performed a major reboot of its IT systems, which continued for 3 hours. The UK thought the cybercriminals were ejected from its systems, but network tracking will be carefully done to ensure the barring of external access. It is believed the attacker is was not from the U.S.A.
UK Healthcare has more than 2 million patients and manages the Good Samaritan Hospital located in Lexington, KY as well as the UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital. Though the computer systems were significantly impacted at certain times, patient care and safety were not affected.
A breach investigation with the help of third-party computer forensics specialists began. University spokesman Jay Blanton stated that it is hard to ascertain cases of access or duplication of sensitive data if any. It is thought that the malware attack was specifically undertaken to hijack the “vast processing capabilities” of the UK network’s for mining cryptocurrency.
The UK had taken steps to reinforce its cybersecurity, for instance, installing a security software program like CrowdStrike. More than $1.5 million was spent to rid the network of hackers and strengthen security.