Royal Ransomware Threat Takes Aim at U.S. Healthcare System

[ck4829]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has cautioned of ongoing Royal ransomware attacks targeting healthcare entities in the country.

"While most of the known ransomware operators have performed Ransomware-as-a-Service, Royal appears to be a private group without any affiliates while maintaining financial motivation as their goal," the agency's Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) said [PDF].

"The group does claim to steal data for double-extortion attacks, where they will also exfiltrate sensitive data."

The agency further noted that Royal ransomware attacks on healthcare have primarily focused on organizations in the U.S., with payment demands ranging from $250,000 to $2 million.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/12/royal-ransomware-threat-takes-aim-at-us.html

Maybe stop putting patient financial data in the US healthcare system? Instead of lots and lots of payers, maybe just, I dunno, a single payer?