The\u00a0cyber attack<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0had wide-ranging implications, affecting the system used to dispatch ambulances, book out-of-hours appointments and issue emergency prescriptions.<\/p>\n In a provisional ruling, the ICO says the software provider breached data protection law by failing to secure personal information belonging to 82,946 people.<\/p>\n Their records were stolen in a ransomware attack by hackers who gained entry to Advanced’s computer systems using an account which did not have multi-factor authentication (MFA).<\/p>\n Typically MFA would prevent cyber criminals from using stolen passwords to secure access.<\/p>\n The data included sensitive information, phone numbers, medical records and information about how to gain entry to the properties of 890 people receiving care at home.<\/p>\n Read more from Sky News:<\/strong> The disruption affected critical services such as\u00a0NHS<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0111 and meant other healthcare staff were unable to access patient records.<\/p>\n People affected by the breach have been notified, and there is no evidence any data was published on the dark web.<\/p>\n The ICO has provisionally decided to impose a fine of \u00a36.09m but the final ruling, and any penalty, will depend on the response from Advanced.<\/p>\n John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, said: “Not only was personal information compromised, but we have also seen reports that this incident caused disruption to some health services.<\/p>\n “For an organisation trusted to handle a significant volume of sensitive and special category data, we have provisionally found serious failings in its approach to information security.”<\/p>\n Advanced released an update following the data breach confirming patient information was copied from their systems before being encrypted.<\/p>\n Typically ransomware attacks involve scrambling victims’ data and making it inaccessible unless they pay up.<\/p>\n The ransomware attack in 2022 led the Welsh Ambulance Service to declare a “major outage” of the system used to refer patients from 111 to out-of-hours GP providers.<\/p>\n It said the issue had affected all four nations in the UK.<\/p>\n In 2018, the NHS was severely affected by the\u00a0WannaCry cyber attack<\/a><\/strong>, leading to thousands of cancelled appointments at a cost of nearly \u00a3100m.<\/p>\n Ransom malware – or ransomware – is malware that locks users out of their system and demands a ransom payment in order to get back in.<\/p>\n The malware dates back to the late 1980s and has been the subject of several high profile incidents in recent years.<\/p>\n Nowadays ransomware authors order that payment be sent via cryptocurrency or credit card, and attackers target individuals, businesses, and organisations of all kinds.<\/p>\n The targets can be individual users or – as it seems is the case this time – larger organisations relied upon by millions of people.<\/p>\n So how does ransomware lock up people’s systems?<\/p>\n First the hacker or threat actor needs to gain access to a device or network.<\/p>\n Having this access means they can use the malware to encrypt your device and data so they cannot be accessed.<\/p>\n Once that’s done, the user will see a message demanding a payment in return for restoring access to their files or system.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Source: \u00a0
\nElectoral Commission criticised for cyber security failings<\/strong><\/a>
\nStolen NHS data ‘published online’ by hackers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
What is ransomware?<\/h4>\n
![\"Sky](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/sky-news-logo-1.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/a> news.sky.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"