[BreachExchange] Hive ransomware attacks Memorial Health System, steals patient data

[Sophia Kingsbury]

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hive-ransomware-attacks-memorial-health-system-steals-patient-data/

In what appears to be an attack from the Hive ransomware gang, computers of
the non-profit Memorial Health System have been encrypted, forcing staff to
work with paper charts.

The attack occurred early Sunday morning and the IT department detected it
once they noticed that parts of the infrastructure no longer responded as
expected.

Memorial Health System is a small network of three hospitals (Marietta
Memorial Hospital, Selby General Hospital, and Sistersville General
Hospital) in Ohio and West Virginia, outpatient service sites, and provider
clinics.

A non-profit integrated health system, the organization counts more than
3,000 employees and is led by a volunteer board of community members.

Surgical cases canceled

The attack caused disruptions of clinical and financial operations, causing
urgent surgical cases and radiology exams on Monday to be canceled.

On Sunday, after learning more about the attack, the organization issued a
press release to notify the community of the incident.

Memorial Health System president and CEO Scott Cantley said at the time
that patient or employee data had not been compromised and that the
investigation was ongoing, to get the complete picture of what happened.

Patient data likely stolen

Typically, ransomware attacks come with a data breach. Before deploying the
encryption routine, hackers typically spend time on the network to
determine the most valuable systems and to steal data.

By exfiltrating information, the attackers have more leverage to force the
victim to pay the ransom in exchange for the promise to not share or leak
the stolen data and to provide a decryption tool.

This case appears to be no different. BleepingComputer has seen evidence
that the attackers have stolen databases with information belonging to
200,000 patients, which includes sensitive details, such as social security
numbers, names, and dates of birth.

The perpetrator is allegedly the Hive ransomware gang, which emerged in
late June, discovered by dnwls0719. Despite the short time of activity, the
group already claimed multiple victims.

Like most ransomware gangs, Hive has a leak site called HiveLeaks and
hosted on the dark web, where they published links to data stolen from
almost two dozen victims that did not pay the ransom.

Most of the businesses listed on the leak site appear to be small to medium
sized, many having around or less than 100 employees.

The largest of the non-paying victims is Altus Group - a provider of
software and data solutions for the commercial real estate industry.
According to the attacker, the company has 2,500 employees and a revenue of
$500 million.
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