For the first time in the history of 2020-21, a hacker reportedly stole patient data and then wiped it off from the database of a hospital in New Mexico.
In what is known to our Cybersecurity Insiders, the IT network that was compromised belonged to the San Juan Regional Medical Center that was in Farmington and the breach took place at the same time last year leaking data such as patient names, DoBs, Social Security Numbers, Driving License Numbers, Passport Info, Financial Account Numbers, Health Insurance data, and Treatment and diagnosis details.
Hospital authorities brought the digital incident to the notice of US Department of Health and Human Services on June 4th this year, and it was made public early this week revealing that the attack could have affected over 68,780 patients.
San Juan Regional Medical Center (SJRMC) launched a detailed probe into the incident and then took all necessary security precautions to avoid such incidents in near future.
Cyber crooks spreading ransomware first steal data and then lock up the database until a ransom is paid. And if the victim cannot pay the ransom on time, then the hacker sells the siphoned data on the dark web to make some quick bucks.
So, a ransomware attack is suspected behind the SJRMC incident as first the hackers stole data and then wiped it off from the servers because the victim apparently failed to bow down to their demands.
Note- SJRMC has denied involvement of any file encrypting malware in the attack and added that it has notified all the affected patients via email and has asked them to protect them from becoming a victim to identity theft in the future.
