The most pressing ransomware variant facing healthcare today is Daixin, according to American Hospital Association's Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity and Risk John Riggi, SC Media reported Jan. 19.
Daixin is a ransomware and data extortion group that has been active since at least June. The group targets the public health sector with ransomware operations aimed at exfiltrating personally identifiable information and patient health information.
The group has claimed multiple victims, including Richmond, Texas-based OakBend Medical Center in September, according to SC Media.
The incident led to weeks of network downtime and the alleged theft of patient health information from the hospital's computers and servers. Data from the hack was also allegedly leaked on the Daixin dark website.
Mr. Riggi said he believes the risk of Daixin and other hacking groups is multifaceted. These groups not only want to gain access to patient data or to disrupt operations for a quick payout, but they are specifically targeting medical research and innovation, some of which is tied to medical device development and medical technology.
"Quite frankly, the way the bad guys are getting in is they're exploiting known and published vulnerabilities: They're simply beating us to the patch," said Mr. Riggi.