FBI offers US companies more details from investigations of health care hacking

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.cyberscoop.com/fbi-health-care-coronavirus-hacking/

By Sean Lyngaas
CYBERSCOOP
May 21, 2020

The FBI has provided U.S. companies more information on the extent of recent
criminal and foreign government-backed hacking operations against the health
care sector and warned of ongoing efforts to steal U.S. research data.

Criminal and state actors continue to target U.S. clinical trial data, trade
secrets, and the “sensitive data and proprietary research of U.S. universities
and research facilities,” the FBI told industry in an advisory this week.
“Likely due to the current global public health crisis, the FBI has observed
some nation-states shifting cyber resources to collect against the [health care
and public health] sector, while criminals are targeting similar entities for
financial gain.”

The advisory, which CyberScoop obtained, includes multiple examples since
February of state-linked hackers trying to compromise and retain access to the
networks of organizations in the U.S. health care and public health sector. It
is the latest in a series of warnings from U.S. officials about similar
cybersecurity incidents as the race for a coronavirus vaccine intensifies.

In one case, a “health care-related company” told the FBI about suspected
government-backed hackers that accessed the company’s network, installing a
“backdoor’ for persistent access. In another, likely government-sponsored
operation, hackers carried out a months-long campaign against a U.S. research
organization, making “extensive attempts to regain access to the network,” the
bureau said. The FBI did not identify the governments responsible for the
activity.

[...]

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