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Another month, another Australian hospital breached by malware and as UnitingCare Queensland fights to restore normal operations after a crippling ransomware attack, local security experts anticipate the string of high-profile hits on healthcare organisations is far from over.
The latest ransomware incidents
The expansive healthcare service whose more than 26,000 employees and volunteers staff over 460 locations across Queensland and the Northern Territory saw a range of key systems taken offline, and manual backup processes initiated, after a suspected ransomware strike affected sites including Brisbane’s Wesley and St Andrews War Memorial Hospitals.
Recovery from the incident is still underway, and a timeline for full operation is not yet available, according to the latest media statement on the incident, but investigative support from external technical and forensic advisors as well as the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) was in place as staf
Cyberattack Affects UnitingCare Network, Hospitals in Queensland
Australian community services organisation UnitingCare experienced a cyberattack on Sunday, reportedly affecting at least two hospitals in its vast network in Queensland.
The Wesley and St Andrews hospitals reportedly issued text messages to visiting medical staff at 2.20 p.m. on Monday advising them about the cybersecurity incident, The Courier Mail reported.
In a statement provided to The Epoch Times, a UnitingCare Queensland (UCQ) spokesperson said the cyber incident affected the organisation’s Digital and Technology systems, which are currently inaccessible. General view of The Wesley Hospital in Brisbane, Australia on June 7, 2013. (Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Up by 150 per cent : Experts warn Australian Cyberattacks to grow exponentially
The number of cyberattacks against Australian organisations have more than doubled in the past several years, prompting new warnings from experts about the vulnerabilities in digital systems.
The warning follows 9News exclusively revealing that UnitingCare Queensland suffered a ransomware cyber-attack over the Anzac weekend, crippling hospitals and aged care centres.
The organisation has now joined a number of other major companies in Australia, including Lion Beverage Company, Toll Transport and Nine Entertainment (the publisher of this website), which have suffered significant attacks in the past 12 months.
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In ransomware attacks, hackers typically try to access and encrypt as much of an organisation s data as possible, rendering it impossible to access without a decryption key that the attacker owns, with its aim to be sold to the target.
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A day doesn t go by without news breaking of another healthcare breach, ransomware attack or looming cybersecurity threat. Here s a compilation of some of the recent developments in the cybersecurity world.
In the past few days alone, U.S. federal agencies have warned of continuing dangers from Russian state hackers; hospitals in Queensland, Australia, have been forced to rely on pen and paper following a major ransomware hit; and patients at Yale New Haven Health say they still haven t been able to get cancer care after one of its software vendors was breached.
Meanwhile, infosec experts have come together to mourn Daniel Kaminsky, a renowned researcher and passionate security advocate who died this past Friday.