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“DragonForce is a relatively new ransomware gang; first seen in action in December last year. Healthcare is a favorite target, with previous attacks including the Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network who they claimed to have stolen 55.87GB of data from.

Their recent cyberattack on California’s 911 Emergency Services is yet another example of the gang relishing in Healthcare sector attacks. A ransomware attack of this scale will likely have serious impact on the public healthcare system across the state, and while massive disruption is a likely goal of the group, there is little doubt that the real incentive is sensitive data theft. Data is the most highly valued prize for attackers; long after normal service is resumed, the data can be used for extortion and sale across the dark web for lucrative sums.

In June alone, Healthcare was the most attacked sector by ransomware, up 25% from May. The worrying trend is that data exfiltration is now seen in 93% of all reported attacks, so the most beneficial action healthcare organizations can take to protect their data is to implement strong anti data exfiltration defences, which make it extremely difficult for anyone to gain unauthorized access to the troves of patient data they possess.”