Maryland Department of Health confirms ransomware attack that caused issues with COVID dashboard

Maryland Department of Health hit by ransomware attack

The Maryland Health Department confirmed Wednesday that a ransomware attack caused issues with the state’s COVID dashboard. FOX 5's David Kaplan has the details.

The Maryland Health Department confirmed Wednesday that a ransomware attack caused issues with the state’s COVID dashboard.

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The health department says the attack was discovered quickly in early December. Officials tried to quickly identify and isolate the attack so it didn’t spread.

Ransomware is generally when hackers overtake an organization’s computer system and lock the organization out, allowing them back in if they pay a ransom. Maryland said it has not paid the ransom.

Mark Lanterman, who is not affiliated with Maryland, is the Chief Technology Officer of Computer Forensic Services and spent 28 years working in cybersecurity for the U.S. Government.

Lanterman echoed something the Maryland Health Department said in its release: That healthcare systems and providers are critical infrastructure targeted during the pandemic.

"The reason why hackers are targeting hackers and healthcare providers is because there is now an urgency, because we’re talking about people’s lives, we’re talking about people’s health," Lanterman says.

Lanterman commends Maryland’s response to this, especially not paying the ransom.

"You’re identifying yourself as a victim who’s willing to pay the ransom, and they will come back for more. Just paying the ransom doesn’t make you best friends. Secondly, you are funding cyberterrorism. By paying ransom that money is going to go to pay computer programmers to write the next generation of cyberattack tools that will be used against us," Lanterman said.

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The state says 95% of the system is back. The FBI is involved in the investigation.