Cyber Security Threat Summary:
The Ragnar Locker ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for an attack on Israel's Mayanei Hayeshua hospital, threatening to leak 1 TB of data allegedly stolen during the cyberattack. The cyberattack on Mayanei Hayeshua occurred in early August, disrupting the hospital's record-keeping system and preventing new patients from receiving care. Yesterday, security researcher MalwareHunterTeam noted that the Ragnar Locker ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack, creating a new page for the hospital on their data leak site. The entry on the data leak site contains a message from the threat actors, claiming that they did not encrypt devices due to the victim being a hospital but did steal data from the organization. ‘First of all, we want to emphasize that since this is a medical institution - we didn't run any encryption to avoid equipment malfunctions, or necessary instruments,’ reads the Ragnar Locker data leak site. ‘However, serious vulnerabilities allows us to download a lot of data and someone else in our place could use such vulnerability in any other way’” (Bleeping Computer, 2023).

Security Officer Comments:
In total, the actors claim to have stolen 1TB of data, which includes medical records, procedure information, and drug prescriptions, as well as a SQL database and emails. So far the ransomware gang has published 420 GB of the allegedly stolen data, with the group threatening to publish the rest if the hospital does not comply with the gang’s ransom demands. Given that sensitive data was accessed, threat actors could use this information to conduct identity theft and targeted phishing attacks to gain more information from victims.

Suggested Correction(s):
Backup your data, system images, and configurations, regularly test them, and keep the backups offline: Ensure that backups are regularly tested and that they are not connected to the business network, as many ransomware variants try to find and encrypt or delete accessible backups. Maintaining current backups offline is critical because if your network data is encrypted with ransomware, your organization can restore systems.

Update and patch systems promptly: This includes maintaining the security of operating systems, applications, and firmware in a timely manner. Consider using a centralized patch management system; use a risk- based assessment strategy to drive your patch management program.

Test your incident response plan: There's nothing that shows the gaps in plans more than testing them. Run through some core questions and use those to build an incident response plan: Are you able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Would you turn off your manufacturing operations if business systems such as billing were offline?

Check Your Security Team's Work: Use a 3rd party pen tester to test the security of your systems and your ability to defend against a sophisticated attack. Many ransomware criminals are aggressive and sophisticated and will find the equivalent of unlocked doors.

Segment your networks: There's been a recent shift in ransomware attacks – from stealing data to disrupting operations. It's critically important that your corporate business functions and manufacturing/production operations are separated and that you carefully filter and limit internet access to operational networks, identify links between these networks and develop workarounds or manual controls to ensure ICS networks can be isolated and continue operating if your corporate network is compromised. Regularly test contingency plans such as manual controls so that safety critical functions can be maintained during a cyber incident.

Train employees: Email remains the most vulnerable attack vector for organizations. Users should be trained how to avoid and spot phishing emails. Multi Factor authentication can help prevent malicious access to sensitive services.

Link(s):
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/