Hong Kong private hospital given 4 weeks to submit report over US$10 million ransomware attack
The Department of Health said on Saturday that it was investigating the incident at Union Hospital in Tai Wai, with its initial findings showing the ransomware attack had not compromised any patient data or medical services.
“Our initial understanding is that it did not involve [the release of] patients’ data nor did it affect the service security of the hospital,” it said. “The Department of Health has requested the hospital to hand in a detailed report in four weeks.”
Health authorities said they had also notified law enforcement agencies, including police and the city’s privacy commissioner.
Union Hospital revealed on Thursday that it had fallen prey to the ransomware attack on Monday morning, resulting in some “operational disruptions”.
“In response to the attack, the hospital has activated the emergency response system and stepped up cyber security measures to block further intrusion … Union Hospital condemns any form of cyberattack,” the hospital said.
“A team of cybersecurity experts has been appointed to conduct thorough system inspection and recovery in order to ensure medical service continuity.”
The hospital stressed that its staff had been vigilant over cybersecurity threats and ensured that all patient records were encrypted and password-protected.
“The leakage of patient data is unfounded as of now. An investigation into the attack is in progress,” it said.
Record 73% of Hong Kong companies hit by cyberattacks in past year: watchdog poll
Record 73% of Hong Kong companies hit by cyberattacks in past year: watchdog poll
Hackers reportedly used ransomware called “LockBit” to target the hospital and demand the US$10 million ransom, which the latter refused to pay.
Police said they received a report from a hospital employee on Monday over abnormalities in the hospital’s network system including some computer files going missing, but no personal data was involved.
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Scathing federal report rips Microsoft for response to Chinese hack
In a scathing indictment of Microsoft corporate security and transparency, a Biden administration-appointed review board issued a report Tuesday saying “a cascade of errors” by the tech giant let state-backed Chinese cyber operators break into email accounts of senior U.S. officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The Cyber Safety Review Board, created in 2021 by executive order, describes shoddy cybersecurity practices, a lax corporate culture and a lack of sincerity about the company’s knowledge of the targeted breach, which affected multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China.
It concluded that “Microsoft’s security culture was inadequate and requires an overhaul” given the company’s ubiquity and critical role in the global technology ecosystem. Microsoft products “underpin essential services that support national security, the foundations of our economy, and public health and safety.”
The panel said the intrusion, discovered in June by the State Department and dating to May, “was preventable and should never have occurred,” and it blamed its success on “a cascade of avoidable errors.” What’s more, the board said, Microsoft still doesn’t know how the hackers got in.
The panel made sweeping recommendations, including urging Microsoft to put on hold adding features to its cloud computing environment until “substantial security improvements have been made.”
It said Microsoft’s CEO and board should institute “rapid cultural change,” including publicly sharing “a plan with specific timelines to make fundamental, security-focused reforms across the company and its full suite of products.”
In a statement, Microsoft said it appreciated the board’s investigation and would “continue to harden all our systems against attack and implement even more robust sensors and logs to help us detect and repel the cyber-armies of our adversaries.”
In all, the state-backed Chinese hackers broke into the Microsoft Exchange Online email of 22 organizations and more than 500 individuals around the world — including the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns — accessing some cloud-based email boxes for at least six weeks and downloading some 60,000 emails from the State…
Review board to issue report detailing Microsoft’s lapses in China hack: report
The intrusion, which ransacked the Microsoft Exchange Online mailboxes of 22 organizations and more than 500 individuals around the world, was “preventable” and “should never have occurred”, the Washington Post said, citing the report.”While no organization is immune to cyberattack from well-resourced adversaries, we have mobilized our engineering teams to identify and mitigate legacy infrastructure, improve processes, and enforce security benchmarks,” Microsoft said.
“Our security engineers continue to harden all our systems against attack and implement even more robust sensors and logs to help us detect and repel the cyber-armies of our adversaries. We will also review the final report for additional recommendations,” it added.
The Cyber Safety Review Board did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Last year, the tech giant said the Chinese hack of senior officials at the US State and Commerce departments stemmed from the compromise of a Microsoft engineer’s corporate account penetrated by a hacking group it dubbed Storm-0558.
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The hack is alleged to have stolen hundreds of thousands of emails from top American officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink.
The Cyber Safety Review Board’s report blames shoddy cybersecurity practices, lax corporate culture and a deliberate lack of transparency over what Microsoft knew about the origins of the breach, according to the Washington Post.
Scathing federal report rips Microsoft for shoddy security, insincerity in response to Chinese hack, ET Telecom
Boston: In a scathing indictment of Microsoft corporate security and transparency, a Biden administration-appointed review board issued a report Tuesday saying “a cascade of errors” by the tech giant let state-backed Chinese cyber operators break into email accounts of senior US officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The Cyber Safety Review Board, created in 2021 by executive order, describes shoddy cybersecurity practices, a lax corporate culture and a lack of sincerity about the company’s knowledge of the targeted breach, which affected multiple US agencies that deal with China. It concluded that “Microsoft’s security culture was inadequate and requires an overhaul” given the company’s ubiquity and critical role in the global technology ecosystem. Microsoft products “underpin essential services that support national security, the foundations of our economy, and public health and safety.”
The panel said the intrusion, discovered in June by the State Department and dating to May “was preventable and should never have occurred,” blaming its success on “a cascade of avoidable errors.” What’s more, the board said, Microsoft still doesn’t know how the hackers got in.
The panel made sweeping recommendations, including urging Microsoft to put on hold adding features to its cloud computing environment until “substantial security improvements have been made.”
It said Microsoft’s CEO and board should institute “rapid cultural change” including publicly sharing “a plan with specific timelines to make fundamental, security-focused reforms across the company and its full suite of products.”
In a statement, Microsoft said it appreciated the board’s investigation and would “continue to harden all our systems against attack and implement even more robust sensors and logs to help us detect and repel the cyber-armies of our adversaries.”
In all, the state-backed Chinese hackers broke into the Microsoft Exchange Online email of 22 organisations and more than 500 individuals around the world including the US ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns – accessing some cloud-based email boxes for at least six weeks and downloading some…