Wai Phyo Aung_ransomware attack Frederick Health

[Wai Phyo Aung]

A brief description

A Ransomware attack was happened on 27,Jan,2025 in Maryland-based Frederick Health organization. The attacker disrupted the IT system of the healthcare organization and reported the results of their patients to another neighboring hospital. Here is the link;
1) https://www.frederickhealth.org/notice/
2) Link

Impact of this data breach, Consequences of the data breach

They found that unauthorized party gained access to their network and copied files from a file shared server. The impact might be unpredictable because the information were patients’ individual records. The attacker could be blackmailing. The reputation of healthcare organization will be bad and it may affect financial status as well.

How the data breach occur

Attacker find the weak point of their IT system and gained access to their network.
The main cause of data breach will be vulnerabilities of the system especially external and internal sites. In the cases of Frederick, there might be hacking from external surface like patient appointment schedule from online booking system. The attacker will try to gain to invade the IT system by using the weak point.

Prevention and Control

The preventive measures are continuous monitoring of the server by using system to exploit the unusual ads or hacking the network. The second way is controlling and upgrading of the internal configuration like asset inventory and range defining, MFA, using password to access the device.

[Jenny Bituin]

Another preventive measure to avoid the ransomware attack is by regularly patching and updating the software and operating system used by the organization to the latest available versions. This will reduce the known vulnerabilities in the system and prevent attackers from exploiting the unpatched or outdated software and operating system. In addition, a backup plan should also be implemented so the data and system can be restored in events such as ransomware attack. Critical data must also be encrypted and maintained offline (without connection to the Internet or local networks) to prevent attack from threats connected to the network.

[Myo Thiha]

Thank you for the interesting case study. My key learning point from this case study is that healthcare organizations must proactively secure their IT systems, monitor for unusual activity, and address system vulnerabilities to protect patient data. This case also highlights the importance of cybersecurity monitoring, robust access controls, and staff awareness to minimize operational, reputational, and financial risk from ransomware attacks.

[Wah Wah Lwin]

In addition to Jenny and Thiha’s points, I think Multifactor authentication, which protects data with multiple layers, could be applied to prevent such attacks. Also, strict policy for data privacy and protection should be well in-place and providing training to responsible staff to comply with data standards, data accountability and governance is important.

[Author]

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