Ransomware investigation expert discusses UT Health East Texas data breach
Simply put, “They will shop your data.”
TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A cyberattack caused ambulances to be diverted from East Texas hospitals, as well as other hospitals owned by Ardent Health Services.
Tim McLemee, a forensic digital evidence expert and ransomware investigation expert, said that based on his decades of experience, the cyber attacks on institutions like Ardent and subsequently UT Health East Texas can be easily and unintentionally started at the click of a mouse.
“If an employee at UT unintentionally set this thing in motion by clicking on an attachment to an email, some form of link or something, and in the time since essentially unboxed this monster, that monster’s been in that network eating data,” he said.
While we do not have any information on how severe the data breach is, McLemee said he does not believe the system will fully recover for possibly months.
“Any type of attack that’s in the same manner as the UT one, I do not know if they will ever truly understand the totality of the entire loss of the data,” he said.
On certain dark websites, ransomware groups will provide what is called proof of data to show their leverage to demand a ransom. Again, there is no information as to what data or information from UT Health East Texas is being held for ransom at this time.
“If they determine that your data has a value to these groups, then they would rather sell them to other criminal organizations than even back to the hospital,” said McLemee.
Simply put, “They will shop your data.”
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