"Patient Data Could Be 'Abused' after Health Service Attack, Warns Irish Government"

The Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) recently faced a ransomware attack that led to disruptions to essential healthcare and social services in hospitals and community centers throughout Ireland. The Irish government warns that the attackers could leak sensitive medical information and other patient data. Experts have confirmed that the attack involved the human-operated ransomware variant called Conti. HSE's systems were also found to contain a remote access tool called Cobalt Strike Beacon, which the hackers used to move within the computer networks before carrying out the attack and demanding a ransom. Conti uses double extortion attacks in which hackers threaten to leak stolen information to the public if the victim chooses not to give in to ransom demands. However, the Irish government has confirmed that it will not pay the attackers' demanded ransom. Early findings indicate that the Eastern European-based threat group known as Wizard Spider was behind the attack on Ireland's health care system. This article continues to discuss the impact of the HSE ransomware attack, the use of the Conti variant in the attack,  the threat group suspected to be behind the incident, and what HSE is doing to restore impacted computer systems.

ZDNet reports "Patient Data Could Be 'Abused' after Health Service Attack, Warns Irish Government"