Week 32 Cyberattack Digest 2018 – Blue Springs Family Care, UnityPoint Health, Comcast Xfinity and others

Today, we are coming up with a new compilation of the recent security incidents all brought together in our cyber attack week digest. While last week’s edition was dedicated to the attacks in the sphere of healthcare exclusively, this week, we decided not to analyze any specific sphere.

Another healthcare incident

by SC Media – 9 August 2018

However, malefactors probably want us to keep our attention on the sphere of healthcare performing two major attacks there. Blue Springs Family Care in Missouri experienced a ransomware attack. Malefactors managed to compromise the information of about 45,000 patients. The actual attack was discovered on May 12, and immediately after that the FBI and Blue Springs Police Department were informed about the incident. Now, the officials claim that all the necessary security measures have been taken and the organization was able to avoid paying the ransom. The medical center also regained access to its systems with the use of backups and rebuilt its systems that had been affected. The organization’s representatives also claim that there is no evidence of patient information been used by the third parties.

1.4 million patients involved in a phishing campaign

by whotv.com – 7 August 2018

This was not the only news on healthcare sector attacks, and another incident affected patients of UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, Iowa. Organization warned 1.4 million patients about a possible data breach. In a phishing campaign that was disguised as emails from a trusted party, a malefactor managed to access sensitive company information. Compromised data included names, addresses, dates of birth, medical record numbers, medical information, treatment information, surgical information, diagnoses, lab results, and medications. Also, some Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and payment card information were stolen. According to the investigators, the access to accounts was gained between March 14, 2018, and April 3, 2018.

Authentication process is holding vulns

by SC Media – 9 August 2018

And the last attack that we are going to highlight involved Comcast Xfinity’s in-home authentication system. The incident exposed home addresses and Social Security numbers of 26.5 million company’s customers. The authentication process is designed to provide easier access to customers’ accounts and reduce instances of password resets. All the users are able to choose their correct home address from a list of four partial addresses. As Comcast knows the customer’s address by looking at the IP address of a user, an attacker can find a customer’s partial address by spotting the necessary IP address. Also, the feature displays the first digit of the customer’s street number and the first three letters of the street where the victims live. This information is enough for an attacker to determine the customer’s city, state, and postal code. After BuzzFeed informed the organization of the incident, Comcast patched the loopholes.

Golf is the next victim

by Bleeping Computer – 8 August 2018

While healthcare organizations have been attacked a lot recently, this sector was not the only target of the attackers. There has been no news on the sport industry, and finally, a new incident is up there. According to GolfWeek, computers at the PGA of America’s offices have faced a ransomware attack. The officials say that on Tuesday ransom notes started appearing on the computer screen of the organization containing the following text: “Your network has been penetrated. All files on each host in the network have been encrypted with a strong algorythm.” Experts say that PGA of America might have been infected with the BitPaymer ransomware.

So, as you can see, the attention of the attackers is still drawn to the sphere of Healthcare, which is alerting. Still, other companies also become victims of malefactors – and you never know what sector will be the next victim. To learn that, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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