The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) continues to face a serious cybersecurity.
The department claims there is a “temporary outage,” while a hacker group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
The breach has left funeral homes manually handling death certificates, causing significant delays and disruptions at a time when people want to grieve. Every passing day adds to the chaos, with work piling up and funeral homes and health facilities on the brink of being overwhelmed.
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Cybersecurity expert Scott Schober points out that large-scale cyberattacks are becoming increasingly serious. “Unfortunately, we are all vulnerable, but there is a lot more value in the healthcare world, as it contains a lot of personal information.”.
Not every aspect of the Department of Health is affected; only the Vital Statistics system, which is used to issue birth, marriage and death certificates, has been affected. “This is a treasure trove for hackers, who exploit this data for identity theft, email phishing scams and phone scams,” Sober notes. “It’s a really difficult and ugly situation.”
In 2022, Florida passed a law that prohibits certain entities, including state institutions, from paying or complying with ransom demands. However, the hacking group targeting the Florida Department of Health says it will begin releasing information if the state doesn’t pay up by Friday.
“The Department of Health Vital Statistics is still not fully transparent as they try to understand exactly what happened. How will they get back up and running? It will take some time,” Schober said.
FDOH told FOX 35 that it is working closely with funeral homes and health facilities to handle the process manually and offline. They also added, “We are asking for the cooperation of health facilities and physicians to expedite the issuance of handwritten death certificates. This collaboration will help families get through this difficult time with the least disruption possible.”
Read more: Poland: Strengthens its cybersecurity after fake news attack
Schober warned that anyone can be a target for hacking and that the fight against cyberattacks will take a lifetime. He recommends providing as little personal information as possible and staying informed about the latest scams.
Source: fox35orlando
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