SecureWorks®, Inc., a leading global provider of information security services protecting 2,700 clients worldwide, reported today that attempted hacker attacks launched at its healthcare clients doubled in the fourth quarter of 2009.  Attempted attacks increased from an average of 6,500 per healthcare client per day in the first nine months of 2009 to an average of 13,400 per client per day in the last three months of 2009.  Attempted attacks against other types of organizations, protected by SecureWorks, did not increase in the fourth quarter.  

"From October through December of 2009, we blocked hundreds of SQL Injection and Butterfly/Mariposa Bot malware attacks launched at our healthcare clients. These attempted attacks were responsible for the increase in our attack statistics," said Hunter King, security researcher with SecureWorks' Counter Threat Unit(SM) (CTU).

In the Fall of 2009, SecureWorks and the security community began tracking a new wave of attacks involving the latest version of the Butterfly/Mariposa Bot malware, according to King. If a computer is infected with the Butterfly malware, it can be used to steal data stored by the victim's browser (including passwords), launch Distributed Denial of Service attacks, spread via USB devices or peer to peer, and download additional malware onto the infected computer.

SQL Injection attacks target vulnerabilities in organizations' web applications. "We also saw a resurgence of SQL Injection attacks beginning in October," continued King. "They were being launched at legitimate websites so as to spread the Gumblar Trojan. Although SQL Injection is a well known attack technique, we continue to read news reports where it has been used successfully by cyber criminals to steal sensitive data," said King. One of the most recent cases reported involved American citizen Albert Gonzalez who was charged, along with two unnamed Russians, with the theft of 130 million credit card numbers using SQL Injection.

Factors Contributing to Healthcare Attacks

1. Valuable Data Stores – Healthcare organizations often store valuable data such as a patient's Social Security number, insurance and/or financial account data, birth date, name, billing address, and phone, making them a desirable target to cyber criminals.
2. Large Attack Landscape – Because of the nature of their business, healthcare organizations have large attack surfaces. Healthcare entities have to provide access to many external networks and web applications so as to stay connected with their patients, employees, insurers and business partners.  This increases their risk to cyber attacks.

"In order for healthcare organizations to effectively protect their sensitive patient data, they should consider employing a defense-in-depth strategy. This approach involves implementing multiple layers of protection to shield the organization from current and emerging threats," said Jon Ramsey, CTO for SecureWorks.  

SecureWorks has outlined a set of information security guidelines to assist the healthcare industry in protecting their patient data from cyber attacks and other data breaches. Adopting these security measures will also assist organizations in demonstrating their adherence to the HIPAA regulations and the requirements outlined in the new Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

The HITECH Act has extended the HIPAA regulations to apply not only to healthcare providers, insurers and healthcare clearinghouses, but also to business associates that are handling personal information about patient health, as well as other protected information, including name, social security number, address and insurance account numbers. These associates must adhere to the Security Safeguards Rules outlined by HIPAA. The HITECH Act has also added a data-breach notification requirement and increased penalties for violation of the HIPAA rules.

via SecureWorks.com