Barcelona Health Center has been reported to be the latest victim of the RansomEXX ransomware gang after the group revealed leaking the healthcare firm’s information online. Included in the alleged leak were medical test results and identity cards of patients and healthcare staff.
According to the ransomware group, the alleged leaked file was taken from the Consorci Sanitari Integral in Spain, a public institution providing medical and social services to patients. Moreover, the total file size of the compromised data was 52GB, likely holding all critical data of the healthcare institution that serves over 1 million patients yearly.
Authorities have been reached out to mitigate the attack on Barcelona Health Center.
The affected healthcare firm contacted CSI, the Cybersecurity Agency of Catalonia, and the Catalan Data Protection Authority to control the security breach and limit the impact. In a statement, Barcelona Health Center has acknowledged a compromise transpired in data confidentiality.
Moreover, the institution explained they detected suspicious activity in their networks last October 7. The incident reduced functionality in some partnering hospitals, including Barcelona hospitals Dos de Maig, Creu Roja de l’Hospitalet, and Moisès Broggi facility in Sant Joan Despí.
Aside from the mentioned healthcare institutions, reports revealed that the incident affected ten other healthcare facilities from the city’s suburbs in the South. Emergency services in all affected hospitals were unaffected, but several medical tools, such as x-ray machines, had become unavailable for urgent use.
Other healthcare-related disruptions experienced from the security incident include being unable to access computerised patient records, email services, medication plans, and diagnostic exams.
Using a backup data cloud copy of the Barcelona Health Center, its systems were restored immediately after the CSI, and other relevant authorities worked on the mitigation measures. The authorities also stated that security defences like firewalls and network segmentation had helped them limit the attack’s impact.
More than 3,000 computers installed with new software were included in the system restoration procedures. Primary care centres were also provided with new computers.
Because of the quick recovery from the security incident, Catalonia’s office of the President acknowledged all involved authorities. It also has credited the security plan developed two years ago, which has come to their aid for the incident.
