The American Hospital Association and federal agencies are warning hospitals and health systems to look out for hacking attempts from a ransomware group that has extorted over $244 million from victims.
The Akira gang, which has historically hacked Cisco environments, recently broadened its tactics and techniques, according to the Nov. 13 advisory from the FBI, HHS, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center and several international cybersecurity agencies.
“Akira relies primarily on brute force attacks on virtual private networks without multifactor authentication enabled to gain initial access, and then they exploit known vulnerabilities in victim systems,” said Scott Gee, AHA deputy national advisor for cybersecurity and risk, in a Nov. 14 news release. “Hospitals should ensure that their VPNs are properly configured and that they are quickly addressing published common vulnerabilities and exposures.”
