Crooks have had access to the medical records of 42 million Americans since 2016 as the number of hacks on healthcare organizations doubled.

Medical records of 42 million Americans are being sold on the dark web since 2016, this information comes from cyberattacks on healthcare providers.

Researchers from Jama Network analyzed trends in ransomware attacks on US hospitals, clinics, and health care delivery organizations between 2016 and 2021.

Common operational disruptions included canceled appointments/surgeries, electronic system downtime, and ambulance diversion. The researchers calculated the operational disruption duration and other data related to the attacks.

From 2016 to 2021, the annual number of ransomware attacks passed from 43 to 91. 

“In this cohort study of 374 ransomware attacks, the annual number of ransomware attacks on health care delivery organizations more than doubled from 2016 to 2021, exposing the personal health information of nearly 42 million patients.” reads the report published by Jama Network. “During the study period, ransomware attacks exposed larger quantities of personal health information and grew more likely to affect large organizations with multiple facilities.”

During the study period, the researchers documented 374 ransomware attacks on healthcare systems that exposed the personal health information (PHI) of 41 987 751 individuals.

The exposure of personal health information increased more than 11-fold, from roughly 1.3 million in 2016 to close to 16.5 million in 2021.

Approximately one in five (20.6%) healthcare organizations that suffered a ransomware attack were able to restore data from backups. For 15.8% of ransomware attacks, threat actors leaked stolen PHI by posting it on dark web forums.

Ransomware attacks mainly targeted clinics, followed by hospitals, other delivery organization types, ambulatory surgical centers, mental/behavioral health organizations, dental practices, and post–acute care organizations. 

Experts also reported that 52.9% of all ransomware attacks affected multiple facilities within the attacked organization.

“The results of this cohort study suggest that from 2016 to 2021, ransomware attacks on health care delivery organizations increased in frequency and sophistication. These attacks exposed PHI and frequently disrupted health care delivery, but further research is needed to more precisely understand the operational and clinical care consequences of these disruptions.” concludes the report. “As policy makers craft legislation aimed at countering the threat of ransomware attacks across multiple industries, we urge them to focus on the specific needs of health care delivery organizations, for which operational disruptions may carry substantial implications for the quality and safety of patient care.”

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, healthcare)

The post Personal health information of 42M Americans leaked between 2016 and 2021 appeared first on Security Affairs.

(NewsNation) — Moscow Police Chief James Fry opened up to NewsNation in one of his first interviews since the arrest of a suspect in connection with the November stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students.

Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in the early hours of Friday in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, where he is being held while awaiting extradition. 

Q: It’s now been 24 hours since Kohberger was identified as a suspect in the case. Have tips about him started to come in?

Fry: An hour into us releasing the name, we had over 400 people call on in. So we continue to ask for that. We continue to ask for more. Every tip, everybody that knew him is only going to help us.

Q: Are the tips originating locally or from everywhere?

Fry: I don’t I don’t know where they came from. You know, if it’s any indicative of this case, they’ve come from all over the nation.

Q: It was on Dec 7, or so, the Moscow police asked for public information about a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra. Where in the timeline, did Kohberger come onto your radar?

Fry: So that’s all part of those pieces that we have to hold until we can release information with the you know, after after he gets tied to hoe and the release of that information. But we’re we’re bound to hold that.

Q: Moscow police said the Elantra occupant, or occupants, of that car may have critical information. Why plural?

Fry: Well, it’s part of our investigation. I said early on, that we’re not gonna let any stone go unturned. And I meant that and we’re following up on everything, just like we’re in this new phase now. And we’re gonna follow up to get to know who he is, and everything about him that we can.

Q: There are reports that the Elantra was tracked as the Idaho suspect was drove cross-country. Can you elaborate on that or speak to reports of his DNA at the scene of the killings?

Fry: All those facts are still sealed, they will come out? I know, I know people are anxious for that. And we will have the answers to that. But in the time that we can give it, so I asked once again, just be patient. I know I’ve asked that a lot of times, but we are bound by the law now.

Q: Newsnation reported Kohberger asked if anyone else was arrested upon his arrest? Have you been able to gather information about when he was taken into custody?

Fry: All that information will come out as well. You know, it’s part of that investigation as part of that next step.

Q: Is it the white Hyundai Elantra THE car and is the search over now for any more white Elantras?

Fry: We believe it is the car.

Q: Is the Elantra in Pennsylvania?

Fry: Yes.

Q: And is it done being processed?

Fry: I don’t know if it’s done, but it will be processed.

Q: A lot of evidence was coming out of Kohberger’s apartment in Pullman, Wash. Can you talk about what might be valuable?

Fry: I think every piece is valuable. And I don’t even know what was collected at this point in time. And as part of that, further investigation that we’re going to hold, but I know that there was a search warrant was served there.

Q: We know that the murder weapon has not been found. And is there a suspicion that it could have been at his apartment?

Fry: We don’t know. Like I said, we’re collecting everything. We’re doing our due diligence, and that’s why we get these search warrants so that everything is secured through the court system and that we have the right to beat where we’re at.

Q: In a local TV interview, you said you are still waiting for forensics results to come back. When did they come back? And was that the link to Kohberger?

Fry: We’re still waiting for stuff to come back. We’re still looking at everything. We’re still having things processed. And I couldn’t verify that right now. Anyway, that’s part of that sealed piece. But there’s still items coming in from the lab.

Q: So the evidence we saw being gathered yesterday [Friday], that could take just as long to be processed?

Fry: That would be new information that we’ve collected and we’ll be processing that as well.

Q: NewsNation asked you during the Friday press conference about the house cleaning. You had said in your announcement that the house is going to be cleaned and turned back over to the management company. We watched those trucks come in, and then they pulled out of there real fast. What happened?

Fry: Like we said, we got a phone call that it was through the court, that we needed to stop and give a little bit more time. So we did that.

Q: Why was the decision made to release the house?

Fry: Well, at that point in time, we were ready to start that process. And then the court, like I said, someone from the court asked us to stop that process. So we did. And we’ll continue to do as we’re asked there, and we’ll start the cleanup as soon as we can again.

Q: Why would the court want that process stopped?

Fry: You know, it could be many reasons could be for the defense counsel, it could be that they just want to hold it for a little bit. But it was a decision from the court.

Q: So it will remain under guard? Should it still be referred to as an active crime scene?

Fry: It’s still our crime scene at this point. So yeah, it’ll still be under security.

Q: Is Moscow being a small community a factor that a jury pool would be harder to gather?

Fry: And that is one of the reasons that I stated that we are holding everything close. And we were protecting the integrity of the case, we want unbiased individuals. In this case, we want people to not know all the facts so that if if there’s a jury selected from here that we can get that pool.

Q: How hard would that be?

Fry: You know, I’m not sure you know, we’ve had cases here before where they’ve been able to get a jury pool. But that’s happened with [Latah County prosecuting attorney] Bill Thompson and his team. So it’d be a great question to ask Bill.

Q: What we’re hoping to get Yes. Okay. Throughout this for the past seven, make weeks almost all these internet. So we’ve had hoodie guy, we’ve had the jacks under suspicion, we’ve had a professor under suspicion, did you guys actively investigate these things? And how distracting was that?

Fry: We investigated every piece of this investigation, we looked at everybody that that we believe was involved or not involved in any way that knew our victims. So we were very active in that. And, you know, through that investigation, that’s that’s where we get to the point where we can rule, it’s as important to rule people out as it is to keep them in the investigation. So as we gathered information that was led us to believe that they were no longer a part of that. We rolled them out.

Q: Will the 911 call be released soon?

Fry: That will come as soon as you know, Bill Thompson in his office feel that that is available for the public.

Q: Is it possible the scene may not be released until a trial?

Fry: I suppose that could happen. You know, there will be decisions made by people that are probably higher up than me that will need to make those decisions. But I suppose that is a possibility.

Q: How are you feeling?

Fry: Right now? A lot lighter. A lot of people speculated on my, my facial expressions and stuff. I’m genuinely, genuinely a pretty upbeat, happy individual. So I smile naturally a lot. And a lot of people read into that there was no nothing to that it was just probably me doing it naturally.

Q: Do you feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders now that a suspect is in custody?

Fry: There always is, there’s always that weight of knowing that you have a person in custody. And I think that gives a great relief to your organization gives a great relief to your community. And in this case, the state, the nation, and I think even the world.

Q: There has been a lot of criticism of the department throughout the investigation as the department held so many details close to the vest. Do you feel vindicated?

Fry: What I feel is, is we did our job, and we did it right. And we said from the beginning, we’re going to protect the integrity of that case, we’re going to continue to do it right. And we’re not a prideful group, what we are is a group that we had a job to do. We did that. And we are happy that we did it the way we did it, because of the outcome.

Q: How hard was it to keep so many details close to the vest?

Fry: I think it’s always hard. It’s, it’s emotional at times, we want to give that information, we want to give the families some closure and give them information we want to give our community. But it is so important to hold that information and keep it right where it was so that when we made an arrest, and now as we continue further, there’ll be more information that we’re going to hold till the end, because we want to get a conviction.

Q: Have you personally talked to the families?

Fry: I have, personally it’s been a while. But I have talked to them on the phone throughout the first couple of weeks of this.

Q: Can you tell us about those conversations?

Fry: What I wanted to reach reassure them is that we were going to do everything we could to bring justice for them, for our for victims, and for everybody that’s involved. And we will try to answer any questions that we could through the process.

Q: What do you have to say to the rest of America to the rest of the world? I mean, after all this scrutiny that this department has been put through?

Fry: I would challenge every police organization across the nation to know the importance, even with the pressures that are put on you the importance of keeping the integrity of that case, solid. It’s your job. It’s what we it’s what we signed on to do we sign on, to make sure that we do it right. And I challenge other departments to do that.

Q: You’ve been quite emotional about this case. Do you still feel that same raw emotion? Do you feel like you’re really fighting this for these young people?

Fry: I think we always feel the emotion. You know, I’m a fairly emotional individual. You know, if you’ve been around me, and you get to know me, I am that way. Because I care and I care a lot and a lot of us want to give the right answers and do it. Right. But it is it is difficult at times.

Q: Talk a bit about the counseling that’s been needed in this department.

Fry: Yeah. You know, we are building a family here. We started that years ago. And we want you know, you want to take care of your family, you want to make sure that they’re healthy. So we have brought in counselors, I’ve talked to counselors, I have a great relationship with my wife, who I can, you know, talk to about things. And we promote that we want our officers to be healthy. We want our families to be how they we brought in counselors for the families as well, because we know that that is a solid base, the family becomes a solid base for an officer. And they’re the support system and we want that to be held.

Q: What was it about the case that required counseling?

Fry: I think there’s a lot of things, you know, it was for people murdered with the use of a knife. There’s, there’s things that you don’t forget when you go on any of these calls and We don’t want that to build over time. So we want to get them the help that they can get. We want to have a good solid structure to help them at home. So that when they come back to work, they are ready to serve our community.

Q: What now? We’re entering a whole new year and a whole new phase. What now?

Fry: Now we get to know who this individual is. We’re focused now on who he is. That’s why we keep asking people send this information, if you’ve known him, if you’ve dealt with him at any point in time. This is now where we become a bit more laser focused on one thing, and we’re going to find out as much information as we can, but we still need our community and people’s help.

Q: Is there anything specific that you’re looking for about him that would help you build your case?

Fry: We are looking at everything. And I’ve said that from the beginning. We don’t know what small tip may come in, and somebody may think is totally irrelevant, but we go that ties something together for us, and what we’re asking his people to give us those pieces and let us work through those to see if that’s exactly what we need to help for this case.

Watch the full interview in the player at the top of the page.

(NewsNation) — Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students, intends to waive his extradition hearing, Jason LaBar, the chief public defender for Monroe County, Pennsylvania, said.

The Monroe County Public Defender’s Office has assumed representation for this hearing, a press release said.

“Mr. Kohberger has been accused of very serious crimes, but the American justice system cloaks him in a veil of innocence,” LaBar said in a statement. “He should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise — not tried in the court of public opinion.”

Kohberger, 28, was arrested in the early hours of Friday in Monroe County, where he is being held. He faces four counts of first-degree murder and a felony burglary charge in connection with the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students — 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin. They were found dead in a Moscow, Idaho, rental home near campus on Nov. 13.

Goncalves, Mogen and Kernodle were roommates and Chapin was in a relationship with Kernodle at the time of their deaths.

Kohberger, police said, had an apartment in Pullman, Washington, where he is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University. The town is about 10 miles away, across state lines, from Moscow.

Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Friday during a news conference that his department had combed through 19,000 tips and interviewed 300 people over the course of their investigation.

Police have still not found the weapon used in the stabbings, but Fry said they located a Hyundai Elantra that had previously been named a vehicle of interest in the case.

Officials asked that people continue to use the tipline to provide tips, as the investigation is still ongoing even now that a suspect has been named.

If you have information that could be helpful to Moscow, Idaho, law enforcement, you can contact them at their Tip Line: 208-883-7180; email tipline@ci.moscow.id.us; or go online to fbi.gov/moscowidaho.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on December 21, 2022.

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

• Zelenskyy on Saturday railed against Russia over its New Year’s Eve strikes on Ukraine.
• “They call themselves Christians. … But they are following the devil,” he said during his address.
• Zelenskyy traveled to Washington this month to meet with US President Biden and speak to Congress.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a Saturday address pointedly told Russia that “no one will ever forgive you” after the country unleashed a wave of missile attacks on Ukraine on New Year’s Eve.

Zelenskyy — who recently traveled to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden and speak before a joint session of Congress — was forceful in stating that Russians were akin to “following the devil.”

Russia in the last few days has led major two rounds of missile strikes on Ukraine, with the attacks affecting the capital city of Kyiv and other parts of the country on Saturday. The strikes killed at least one person and have injured 14 individuals, according to the Associated Press.

“They call themselves Christians. They are very proud of their orthodoxy. But they are following the devil,” Zelenskyy said during his address. “They support him and are together with him.”

Zelenskyy went on to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin is hiding and warned that neither Ukraine nor the world community would “forgive” the violent attacks on his country.

“And what will be with all of you, citizens of Russia, does not concern him,” he said. “Your leader wants to show that he has the troops behind him and that he is ahead. But he’s hiding. He hides behind the troops, missiles, his residences, palaces.”

“He hides behind you, burns your country, your future. No one will forgive for terror. No one in the world will forgive you. Ukraine won’t forgive,” he emphasized.

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and with the New Year approaching, it will soon be nearly a full year since the start of the conflict.

A man can only take so much shit from his ex-wife.

Professional actress and succubus Amber Heard simply could not let her ex-husband go. Several months after their 2017 divorce was finalized, Heard hounded her former husband, movie star Johnny Depp, with wild accusations of abuse, culminating in a vicious op-ed published in the Washington Post. In it, she intimated years of emotional, physical, and psychological abuse by Depp in an attempt to reinvigorate her acting career through the vessel of the #MeToo Movement.

These allegations cost Depp millions in lost earnings and severed his relationship with Disney, the studio home to his blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Fed up, Depp sued Heard for defamation in a case that would become the trial of 2022.

Fueled with gallons of red wine and mountains of The Palm’s world-famous chicken parmigiana, Johnny turned the tables on his accuser. He hired the hottest trial lawyer he could find, superstar Camille Vasquez, and holed up in a legal war room at the Ritz-Carlton to plot their scorched-earth legal strategy.

The trial exposed several instances of vicious physical and psychological abuse Heard thrust upon Depp. Vazquez also masterfully revealed the fiction of Heard’s claim that she contributed the proceeds of their divorce settlement to charity.*

Heard’s defense strategy mystified most legal observers. In feeble attempts to paint Depp in an unflattering light, Heard and her attorneys accused Johnny of being a drug abuser, an alcoholic, financially reckless, and being friends with Keith Richards. In short, their plan was to accuse world-renowned degenerate Johnny Depp of being… Johnny Depp?

Initially, the jury seemed to believe that Depp was in fact scumbag enough that he could be guilty of abuse.

But Depp’s attorneys were prepared. To win over a jury, the art of persuasion is key. Often it requires a change of preexisting perceptions by bringing new shit to light. In this trial’s coup de grâce, that is exactly what the Depp team did—they brought new shit to light.

Many people believe the myth that beautiful women do not, in fact, poop. Amber Heard is undoubtedly a beautiful woman. Johnny’s legal team knew there were likely several jurors who shared this preconceived notion. They needed to change perceptions.

Vazquez did just that when, in a legal masterstroke, she presented the jury with photographic proof of a substantial pile of fecal matter laid upon Depp and Heard’s bed! Proof, Vazquez claimed, that not only does Amber Heard defecate, but that Amber Heard does so with malice. Not the kind of malice that comes from the morning after a chili dog and dark beer bender, but willful, vengeful malice. Considered a war crime by the Geneva Convention, biological weaponry is outlawed in nearly every country—even the shithole ones.

Revolted, the jury gasped.

Perceptions changed.

Heard, caught off-guard by this presentation, attempted to blame her dog, a four-pound Yorkshire Terrier named Boo. Nice try, toots.

The jury knew this was no doggy accident, it wasn’t a Baby Ruth, or a muddy sock, and it wasn’t Mr. Hankey.

It was a turd. Amber Heard’s turd.

Case closed.

The traumatized jury ruled in Depp’s favor, granting him a judgment of $10 million, concluding the trial of the year.

For defeating #MeToo with a number two, Johnny Depp is 2022’s Washington Free Beacon Man of The Year.

*Editor’s Note: Officially, the Washington Free Beacon classifies the ACLU as a terrorist organization, not a charity.

The post 2022 Man of the Year: Johnny Depp appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile over the sea to the east of the Korean Peninsula in the early hours of Sunday, the South Korean military said.

The move comes not even 24 hours after North Korea launched three ballistic missiles on Saturday.

The short-range ballistic missile was fired around 2:50 a.m. local time (1750 GMT) from around the capital Pyongyang, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The missile flew for about 400 kilometres (249 miles) before landing in the sea, Yonhap news agency said, citing the military.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that though the launch did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to Washington’s allies, it highlighted the destabilising impact of North Korea’s weapons programme.

Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada has protested to North Korea over the launch, Kyodo News reported on Sunday.

The launch follows an unprecedented number of missile tests conducted by North Korea in 2022, as Pyongyang presses on with weapons development amid speculation it could test a nuclear weapon for a seventh time.

In 2022, the North also resumed testing intercontinental ballistic missiles for the first time since 2017, successfully launching the massive new Hwasong-17, which is believed to have the range to strike anywhere in the United States.

North Korean state media KCNA said on Saturday that its central party had engaged in the fifth day of a plenary session on Friday to solidify strategy, with the session expected to continue, making it the longest ever according to Yonhap. The results of the session could be known as early as Sunday.

Venezuela and Colombia will fully reopen their shared border on January 1 to allow passage of cargo and passenger transport via the cross-border Tienditas bridge, Colombia Migration said in a statement on Saturday.

The South American countries already reopened in September their border crossing in the Tachira state, in western Venezuela, after political ties strengthened under Colombia’s new president, Gustavo Petro.

Petro and his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, appointed ambassadors in Caracas and Bogota, respectively.

Colombian authorities have said since September that the reopening of the shared 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles) border between the two countries would be progressive.

Last week, Venezuelan government officials were supervising the infrastructure of the Tienditas bridge.

“We completely reopen the border between our countries in order to guarantee the movement of cargo and passengers, and to promote trade and tourism in Colombia and Venezuela, not only by land but also by air and river”, said Colombia’s Minister of Transport Guillermo Reyes Gonzalez.

Elsewhere, people and cargo can already cross the border via two bridges in Tachira as well as the western Zulia state. Flights between the capitals Caracas and Bogota resumed in November.

The commercial exchange between the two countries is worth around $580 million, according to official data from Colombia.

Thousands gathered in central Wuhan on Saturday night to count down to the start of what many hoped would be a much better year after a “tough” 2022 filled with lockdowns and in December a major new outbreak of the coronavirus.

Many released balloons into the sky when the clocks struck midnight, as per tradition in the central Chinese city where the pandemic began three years ago, before grabbing selfies with their friends.

“In the past year, I feel that COVID-19 was very serious and some of my family members have been hospitalised,” 17-year-old Wuhan high school student, surnamed Wang, told Reuters from the riverside shortly after midnight.

“I hope they will be healthy in the new year. This is the most important thing.”

Some came in fancy dress and almost everyone present wore masks as the country sees a wave of COVID which accelerated after curbs were dropped and which has since infected large swathes of the population with deaths now reaching an estimated 9000 a day according to UK-based health data firm Airfinity.

“I am afraid,” said a lady surnamed Jin, referring to the possibility of being reinfected with COVID-19.

“I was still afraid when I came out tonight, but I just wanted to come out, because everyone has come out.”

The crowds, including Jin, who were especially tightly packed in front of the old clock tower at Wuhan’s Hankou Customs House, were watched by large numbers of police officers, SWAT, unidentified plain-clothed personnel, and other security workers.
In late November hundreds of people took part in lockdown demonstrations on the streets of cities across the country including Wuhan. Following those protests, China all but abandoned its strict “zero COVID” policy of stringent curbs.

“Those restrictions were in place for too long, so perhaps people were pretty unhappy,” said 24-year-old Wuhan resident surnamed Chen, who works in e-commerce. “It had been a long time since things were lively and vibrant.”

Police used loudspeakers at a number of locations, blasting out a short message on a loop telling people not to gather, to which people appeared to take little or no notice.

People just wanted to have a nice time.

“I’m looking forward to the new year but I’m also very nervous,” said Wuhan resident Lily Zhao, 37, who works as a kindergarten teacher. “I’m wondering when this epidemic will be completely over.“

In Shanghai, which like many Chinese cities in 2022 was put under a lengthy lockdown, many thronged the historic riverside walkway, the Bund.

“We’ve all travelled in from Chengdu to celebrate in Shanghai,” said Da Dai, a 28-year-old digital media executive who was travelling with two friends. “We’ve already had COVID, so now feel it’s safe to enjoy ourselves.”
While there were enough people on the Bund to warrant police directing the flow of those there, local F&B establishments were less busy than last year.

“It’s not nearly as busy as it was last year,” said a waiter at Lost Heaven restaurant close to the Bund.
Some tables were empty, which would not normally be the case on NYE he said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media. The restaurant had over 200 bookings, but typically has 20-30% more, he said.

“People have been afraid to come out since the COVID policy was loosened,” he said. “Hopefully it’ll be better next year.”

Related Galleries:

North Korea fired a ballistic missile over the sea to the east of the Korean Peninsula in the early hours of Sunday, Yonhap news agency reported citing the South Korean military.

The move comes not even 24 hours after North Korea launched three ballistic missiles on Saturday.

The short-range ballistic missile was fired around 2:50 a.m. local time (0750 GMT) from around the capital Pyongyang, Yonhap said, citing South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The launch follows an unprecedented number of missile tests conducted by North Korea in 2022, as Pyongyang presses on with weapons development amid speculation it could test a nuclear weapon for a seventh time.

North Korean state media KCNA said on Saturday that its central party had engaged in the fifth day of a plenary session on Friday to solidify strategy, with the session expected to continue, making it the longest ever according to Yonhap. The results of the session could be known as early as Sunday.