As McLaren Health Care continues to repair its computer systems following a disruptive ransomware attack last week, some Michigan government officials are warning consumers about potential cybercrime and other serious considerations stemming from this and similar security incidents involving physical care teams in the state.
Related: How Intermountain Health moved from ‘managed chaos’ to strategic cyber risk management
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel suggested consumers be proactive in tracking their credits and other accounts in the wake of the second major cyberattack on McLaren Health in the past year.
McLaren Health, in Grand Blanc, Michigan, operates thirteen hospitals and other services in the state, adding the largest network of cancer care centers in Michigan.
“These events serve as a clear warning that much of our own data is at constant risk from cybercriminals,” Nessel said. “I inspire everyone to be diligent in protecting their accounts and to be on the lookout for any signs of private data exploitation. “
Nessel said in the alert that Michigan is still among the minority of states that require primary knowledge violations to be reported to state regulators, such as the attorney general’s office.
“While more than 30 states have laws requiring the state to be notified of significant violations, Michigan is not one of them, and client coverage agencies like ours can only be informed about those attacks through the media,” he said.
The latest attack on McLaren Health, which follows a ransomware attack on Ascension in May that disrupted that organization’s IT at more than 100 hospitals in several states, including Michigan, is drawing the attention of some Michigan state lawmakers.
State Rep. Donni Steele, a Republican representing Orion Township, Michigan, last week called on the state legislature to “strengthen the consequences of ransomware attacks and partnerships with local law enforcement to better respond to ransomware. “
Currently, the maximum penalty for hacking into a computer in Michigan is five years in prison, while the maximum penalty “for possession of ransomware” is up to three years in prison, Steele said in a press release.
“It is unacceptable that criminal gangs that control gyms in our communities face only five years in prison if arrested,” he said. “These attacks disrupt the medical treatment of others who want it. No cancer patients or mothers deserve to have to worry about cybercriminals when we seek treatment at a local hospital. “
“The lax consequences of ransomware attacks allow those criminals to target other people and businesses in Michigan,” Steele said. “Clearly, this risk does not happen by passing. Legislators cannot sit idly by and expect everything to go well. “
Steele suggested his fellow lawmakers take a “holistic approach and have the state and federal government partner with local authorities” to combat cyber threats.
“We’ll have to make sure law enforcement has all the resources they need to protect our fitness system,” he said.
Steele did not respond to the Information Security Media Group’s request for additional comment, adding whether he plans to introduce a law on cybersecurity in health care.
Last week’s attack on McLaren Health, believed to have been carried out via the INC Ransom ransomware group, is the time in less than a year that a gang of cybercriminals has hacked into the organization (see: McLaren Health Attacked by Ransomware for the First Time in a Year).
Last October, the Russian-speaking ransomware gang BlackCat/Alphv claimed to have stolen 6 terabytes of knowledge from McLaren Health, compromising the sensitive data of more than 2 million patients. McLaren Health, which said at the time that it detected suspicious activity on its network months after the previous one, in August 2023, publicly disclosed whether it paid a ransom to BlackCat (see: The organization claims to have stolen the knowledge of 2. 5 million patients in an attack).
McLaren Health reported its 2023 ransomware breach to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security (U. S. ) was released on Oct. 23, 2023, with a fictitious estimate of only 501 other people affected.
While McLaren Health still faces several proposed federal elegance action lawsuits for this earlier attack, a handful of law firms, Migliaccio,
In a Monday update on the incident, McLaren Health said it was continuing its efforts to fully repair operations after last week’s cyberattack.
McLaren Health hospitals and clinics are “largely operational,” adding radiation treatment equipment at their Karmanos Cancer Institute sites across the state, he said. However, ambulances at some McLaren Health hospitals remain diverted due to certain conditions, the entity said.
McLaren Health also said it is still finding out if patient or worker knowledge was compromised.
McLaren Health did not respond to ISMG’s request for further details about the ongoing incident, adding when IT systems are expected to be fully restored and whether McLaren Health paid a ransom to risk actors.
The latest attack on McLaren and disturbing incidents involving other medical providers in the United States continue a troubling trend plaguing the healthcare industry, some experts said.
“Gone are the days when cybersecurity only referred to security in the healthcare industry,” said David Finn, former healthcare IT director and executive vice president at security consulting firm First Health Advisory. “The key word here is cyber resilience,” he said.
“Whether it’s an attack, a forced outage, a poor upgrade, or a critical third party, you want to have a plan and moves in place to keep going when systems fail and figure out how to continue to deliver patient care and perform regimen operations. “When something wrong happens, before, not in the middle of the incident,” he said.
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