Healthcare entities should ensure they’ve applied adequate cybersecurity principles and mitigation strategies to defend against the “exceptionally aggressive” Hive ransomware group, given its frequent targeting of the sector, warns an alert from the Department of Health and Human Services Cybersecurity Program.Hive “follows many of the typical practices, including infection vectors, ransom note, data exfiltration and double extortion and maintaining a name-and-shame dark website,” according to the alert. “They also have a set of unique capabilities that make them especially noteworthy.”The financially motivated group first emerged in June 2021 amid a period of rebranding for a number of ransomware groups aiming to evade law enforcement and takedown efforts. But in its short active period, Hive has wreaked havoc on the sector, claiming at least three healthcare victims in its first active quarter.The cyberattack on Memorial Health System in August was one of the first healthcare victims claimed by Hive, which drove the Ohio provider into emergency care diversion and EHR downtime procedures. The group later posted healthcare data belonging to 200,000 MHS patients, allegedly stolen ahead of the attack. The most recent incident tied to Hive was an attack and subsequent two-week network outage at Partnership HealthPlan of California.In total, data shows Hive claimed attacks on approximately 355 companies within 100 days of operations.
Ransomware, Threat Management, Threat Management, Security Strategy, Plan, Budget
Hive ransomware group ‘exceptionally aggressive,’ HHS says in warning to health sector

The Hive ransomware group is one of the more aggressive threat actors and prone to targeting the healthcare sector, prompting an HHS alert. (Photo credit: "
U.S. Navy Doctors, Nurses and Corpsmen Treat COVID Patients in the ICU Aboard USNS Comfort
" by
NavyMedicine
is marked with
CC PDM 1.0
.)
An In-Depth Guide to Ransomware
Get essential knowledge and practical strategies to protect your organization from ransomware attacks.
Related Events
Get daily email updates
SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news
You can skip this ad in 5 seconds