France Warns of Stolen Healthcare Credentials

February 23, 2021 – Article posted on HealthcareInfoSecurity

French authorities are warning the country’s healthcare sector of the discovery of a glut of stolen credentials, apparently belonging to hospitals workers, that were found for sale on the dark web. The alert comes amid a recent rise in ransomware attacks on hospitals and other healthcare entities.

In an alert issued this week, the French Ministry of Social Affairs and Health says it was notified by France’s Computer Emergency Response Team – part of the National Agency for Security of Information Systems – of the sale on a cybercriminal forum of a list of 50,000 user accounts – including login/password credentials – likely belonging to French hospital agents…

…”Based on what has been reported on these events in the French healthcare sector, it appears to be very similar to what we’ve seen affecting several verticals, including U.S healthcare,” says Tony Cook, head of threat intelligence at security vendor GuidePoint Security.

“In many cases ransomware actors are simply scanning for open remote administration ports, then targeting the underlying service with brute force attacks,” he notes. “It is an easy and effective manner to get into an environment in which these actors have found great success.”

Read more HERE.