Cyberattacks on Hospitals: How Ransomware and Bitcoin Threaten America’s Health Providers

EDITOR’S NOTE: On Tuesday of this week, news media organizations were reporting that U.S. intelligence officials delivered a report to both President Barack Obama and President-Elect Donald Trump outlining allegations that the Russians could have compromising information on him. The news came on the heels of a report on Russian hacking of email servers of the Democratic National Committee in the run-up to the presidential election, in what many are viewing as cyberwarfare.

It’s a nightmare scenario for any hospital: suddenly, all computer screens are stuck on a warning message indicating that “all of your data has been encrypted. In order to unlock access to your system, you must pay $250,000 in Bitcoin.” 

Immediately, the entire hospital is plunged into a crisis. It is impossible for staff to look up patient conditions or determine what treatments are required. Lives of patients are threatened. The IT group has no idea what to do. This is the threat of so-called “ransomware” – valuable data being kidnapped until a ransom is paid. 

Why do cyber-extortionists use Bitcoin? And what is Bitcoin?

It’s a cryptocurrency, or decentralized digital currency. It relies on a peer-to-peer system, which means there is no central point of control. It is open source software, so no company owns or controls Bitcoin. There is no intermediary for moving the currency from one party to another, no records, no taxes to pay, and no way to identify the party receiving the payment.

All Bitcoin transactions are recorded in a giant ledger that is distributed from one network node to another. This ledger is called the “blockchain.” There are Bitcoin ATMs. The amount of Bitcoin currently in circulation is worth well over $10 billion. In 2015, the British bank Barclays announced it will accept Bitcoin. The price changes, but in November 2015, one Bitcoin was the equivalent of around $500. But again, there is no central repository, like a central bank (Federal Reserve), and no one controls the currency supply. 

Bitcoin is a viable currency, and it is accepted for payment by many vendors. But it also is a favorite of criminals because there is no record of its use or transfer, no tracking, and of course, again, no taxes. According to the FBI, “criminals prefer Bitcoin because it’s easy to use, fast, publicly available, decentralized, and provides a sense of heightened security/anonymity.”

Ransomware

Ransomware, or “cyber extortion,” is said to have originated in Eastern Europe in 2005. The scourge of ransomware is spreading rapidly. In the United States, attacks are expected to top $1 billion in 2016. But these estimates probably ignore the vast majority of ransomware attacks that never are reported. According to the FBI, a typical ransomware payment is between $200 and $10,000. By early 2016, there were more than 4,000 reported ransomware attacks. The current rate is around 3,000 attacks per day. It is big business.

The names of ransomware programs read like a twisted hacker’s nightmare: CryptoWall, CTB-Locker, TeslkaCrypt, Samoas (SAMSAM), Locky (very popular), Conflickeer work, Chanitor, Nivdort bot, HummingBad, Triada, Ztorg, GameOverZeus, etc. The Android OS is particularly vulnerable. There are a few groups of cyber extortionists known for exploiting ransomware. These include the so-called Cyber Caliphate Army (CCA) and the Brazil-based TeamXRat. But there is need to worry about these specific groups, because you will never know who hit you. Table 1 summarizes a few of recent ransomware attacks against hospitals.

How Hospitals Can Protect Against Ransomware 

Unlike financial institutions, hospitals in general do not have a great degree of experience in handling computer emergencies. Even though healthcare represents a large part of the economy, spending on cybersecurity is less than 10 percent of overall security spending. In other words, the healthcare sector is under-investing in security. And this needs to change. 

There are a number of steps hospitals can take to improve their defenses against ransomware. Any hospital might start with a ransomware audit. This audit would aim at developing a strategy or “playbook” to improve network security, help educate healthcare employees on good security practices, put in place a computer recovery plan, and develop a protocol to handle emergencies. A few options to consider are summarized in Table 2. 

It is important to note that ransomware is not only an IT issue. There are important legal considerations. For example, if patient records are compromised, the healthcare provider must make notification. And this means that as many as tens of thousands of persons must be contacted, and in a timely manner.

No matter what measures a hospital takes against cyber-extortionists, the reality is that it is impossible to have 100-percent reliable protection against hackers. But there is much that can be done to a) lower the chances of being hacked; and b) ensure that if a ransomware incident takes place, it can be dealt with expeditiously and with the least harmful disruption to what is really important: helping patients.

Program Note 

RACmonitor presents a live webcast, “Protect Your Facility from Cyberattacks: Learn from Real World Examples,” Tuesday, Jan. 17, 1:30 p.m. ET