The medical field has been targeted over the last few years
for attacks. The focus has and continues to be the data being held. These
attacks may take any of the many different forms of attack, dependent on the
target’s equipment, configurations, and other factors. The data targeted by the
attackers has value to them and for resale. A recent case directly involved
this. UCSF experienced a successful attack on June 1, 2020, with its School of
Medicine’s IT environment. While the method was not published, the data
involved was. The attacker may have had access to the current and former
employee’s names, social security number, government ID numbers, medical
information, health insurance ID numbers, and possibly financial information.
After the attack was discovered, UCSF did contract with a
cybersecurity consultant, and others to investigate the breach. The IT system was
also analyzed for areas to harden, to minimize the opportunity for this to
happen again.
The successful method used for the breach was not available.
This could have been a simple phishing attack, or a more complex, multi-step
attack on their system. This attack however does emphasize the need for a complete,
defense in depth. This involves staff training, patch management, and updates.
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