MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Hackers attacked Philippine Health Insurance Corp. ‘s website and online app Friday. (PhilHealth), disabling systems and blocking them for more than 24 hours.
On a Saturday, PhilHealth said it had introduced lockdown measures, as well as an investigation into the “information security incident,” in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and other applicable government agencies “to assess its scope. “
“While the investigation is ongoing, the affected systems will be temporarily shut down to protect our application systems,” said Emmanuel Ledesma, PhilHealth’s chief executive officer.
The head of the public insurer asked and trusted that “we will get to the bottom of this matter and put in place more powerful systems to prevent this from falling again. “
The Inquirer has reached out to several PhilHealth officials and staff to verify whether the incident was a Medusa ransomware attack, but they have yet to respond.
Ransomware is a cyberattack that hijacks an entity’s data or formula until a ransom is paid.
In a February 2023 report from the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. The U. S. Department of Agriculture, MedusaLocker, a variant of the ransomware, capable of “infecting and encrypting systems, primarily targeting the healthcare industry, after its first detection in September 2019. “
MedusaLocker, considered “lesser known but powerful,” has taken advantage of the disorder and confusion that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic to launch attacks, according to the report.
According to a cybersecurity firm last week, a company typically spends around 55 million pesos, or about $1 million, on a single data breach and pays a ransom to regain access to the system.
We use cookies to give you the most enjoyment of our website. By continuing, you agree to our use of cookies. For more information, click on this link.