Hackers targeting U.S. hospitals with ransomware attacks

Federal agencies warn hackers targeting U.S. hospitals with ransomware attacks

The FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned Wednesday that cybercriminals were stepping up ransomware attacks on health sector groups as the organizations grappled with a new wave of COVID-19 cases.

"CISA, FBI, and HHS have credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers," the agencies wrote in a joint alert.

The agencies warned that the cybercriminals behind the attacks were deploying Ryuk malware, a ransomware virus that was recently linked to an attack on a German hospital that crashed servers and led to the death of woman who was unable to receive life-saving care.

The virus was also involved in an attack on Pennsylvania-headquartered hospital chain Universal Health Services, with all 250 of its U.S. healthcare facilities negatively impacted by a ransomware attack earlier this month.

Multiple hospitals and healthcare groups in the U.S. have been targeted this week, including three hospitals in New York’s St. Lawrence County and Sky Lakes Medical Center in Oregon, which the medical center confirmed in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

“Sky Lakes retail pharmacies and clinics are all open,” the medical center wrote in a Wednesday post. “With our computer system still compromised by the ransomware attack, business is functioning although slower.”

The three federal agencies noted Wednesday that they were "sharing this information to provide warning to healthcare providers to ensure that they take timely and reasonable precautions to protect their networks from these threats."

Cybersecurity group FireEye released a report Wednesday night detailing the attacks, attributing them to an an Eastern European group known as "UNC1878."

“The operators conducting these campaigns have actively targeted hospitals, retirement communities and medical centers, even in the midst of a global health crisis, demonstrating a clear disregard for human life,” FireEye threat researchers wrote in the report.

Reuters reported that the FBI was probing the recent attacks, while CyberScoop reported that the FBI, HHS, and DHS held a call with private sector groups on Wednesday to discuss the new cyber threats to U.S. hospitals and healthcare groups.

HHS and CISA did not respond to The Hill's request for comment on the call, while a spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment beyond the joint alert.

Charles Carmakal, the senior vice president and chief technology officer of FireEye’s Mandiant Threat Intelligence, said in a statement provided to The Hill that the UNC1878 threat group is “one of the most brazen, heartless, and disruptive threat actors I’ve observed in my career.”

“Ransomware attacks on our healthcare system may be the most dangerous cyber security threat we’ve ever seen in the United States,” Carmakal said. “UNC1878, an Eastern European criminal threat actor, is deliberately targeting and disrupting U.S. hospitals with ransomware, forcing them to divert patients to other healthcare providers. Patients may experience prolonged wait time to receive critical care.”

He noted that “multiple hospitals have already been significantly impacted by Ryuk ransomware and their networks have been taken offline. As hospital capacity becomes more strained by COVID-19, the danger posed by this actor will only increase.”

Ransomware attacks have become an increasing concern to hospitals worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, with hackers looking to take advantage of cyber vulnerabilities at a time when hospitals are particularly desperate to ensure systems remain up and running.

Carmakal said Wednesday that Mandiant was “releasing a significant amount of information about UNC1878 to help organizations defend their networks” and mitigate cyber threats to these critical groups.

Drew is off

After spending two weeks housesitting for us while we were at Sea Ranch, Drew took off for Half Moon Bay to do some recording before heading back to SoCal. He and Shannon are considering moving to the Placerville area.

Family Dinner

With Drew and Jack still staying with us, we invited Morgan and Lee for dinner. Drew said that he thought that it was the first time that the three of them had all been together in this house.

Sharon made a great dinner of cornflake chicken, scalloped potatoes and aspargus. The weather was nice enough that we ate on the back deck.

After dinner, Drew, Jack, Sharon and I took Tiber for a walk looping in through the back gate in the dark. While I did the dishes, Sharon, Jack and Drew played Unstable Unicorns.

Adventist Health earns IT award

Congratulations to Adventist Health IT for earning an award for their meaningful work to improve patient care. The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is pleased to announce that Adventist Health has earned 2020 CHIME Digital Health Most Wired recognition as a certified level 8, receiving the quality award.

The CHIME Digital Health Most Wired program conducts an annual survey to assess how effectively healthcare organizations apply core and advanced technologies into their clinical and business programs to improve health and care in their communities.

This is the second year that Adventist Health has received this award, holding on to our level 8 certification and improving 2.9% from last year’s 2019 submission.

“I’m incredibly proud of our team for this prestigious award,” says Matt Fink, chief information officer. “We continually strive for excellence in digital technology to enhance care for our patients. This award is a shining light during an especially challenging year with COVID-19.”

A total of 30,091 organizations were represented in the 2020 Digital Health Most Wired program, which this year included four separate surveys: domestic, ambulatory, long-term care and international. The surveys assessed the adoption, integration and impact of technologies in healthcare organizations at all stages of development, from early development to industry leading.

2020 Work From Sea Ranch - Day 11

Moving day. Up early, I started loading up the car before 7 am. After a quick breakfast, I did a couple of work meetings.

We rolled from the house before 10 am. With a quick stop in Bogeda Bay, we were at the Artesa Winery before 12:30 pm. We had seen the Artesa Winery featured in the movie Wine Country. I was very impressed with the views from the winery that they showed in the film. Sharon and Liz visited the winery in 2004.

We did a Heritage Flight Tasting with Tapas. I enjoyed the wine, the food and the view. We sat on the patio looking south towards the bay. Unfortunately, it was very windy. To Sharon's dismay, due to the wind, the fountains weren't running.

We were back in Carmichael about 3:30 pm. Both Drew and Jack were there. Drew showed up on October 16 and housesat while we were gone. Jack had flew to Sacramento on Ocotber 20 and has been working remote from Carmichael over the last week.

It is likely that both Sharon and I will be working from home for the foreseeable future. The open question is where will we should work from next!

2020 Work From Sea Ranch - Day 10

We had a lazy morning. Sharon had talked about wanting to play golf again. Given the condition of the golf course, I was less enthused; the fairways are dead, hard tabletops. Combined with some cooler weather, we decided to take one last hike in the morning instead. We hiked down to the ocean and along the bluff trail before heading back to the house. We passed Seascape where we stayed with the Sanborns in January of 2019.

We decided to go wine tasting at the Annapolis Winery in the afternoon. More than twenty years ago, we visited the winery on a Sea Ranch vacation in the summer of 1999. We had Drew, Morgan and Jack with us. As I said before, I have to look for some pictures from that trip.

After the tasting, we had a picnic lunch. The place was deserted; we were the only customers.

Heading back towards Gualala, we drove through a couple of The Sea Ranch neighborhoods that Sharon wanted to explore. This included a quick stop to look for a historical marker behind the tennis courts at the Del Mar Center [Del Mar Store Warehouse Circa 1904]. We stopped at the Surf Market to pick a few things to fill out the plan for dinner. I filled up the Volvo for the first time in almost two and a half months!

Back at the house, we hit the hot tub and then started to pack up. We are going to roll early on Monday morning to head back to Carmichael. The weather cleared in the afternoon and we enjoyed one of the best sunsets of the week.

We made a Mexican meal out of leftovers. We finished the night watching episode nine of season four of Downton Abbey. This was an extra long season finale.

2020 Work From Sea Ranch - Day 9

Sharon talked earlier in the week about wanting to do a really long hike on Saturday. Heading out about 9:30 am, Sharon and I hiked along the bluff trail to the Salad Creek Trail through the golf course. From there, we crossed Highway 1 and looped around Northeast corner of The Sea Ranch. We came across a somewhat surprising historical marker [The Sea Ranch Apartments]. We stopped for lunch on the Pomo Creek Trail. In total, we covered just over ten miles in about four and a half hours.

We have seen quite a few whales over the course of the week. Just south of the golf course as we were hiking, we stopped and watched a pair of whales feeding in the kelp beds. Seeing their tails as they dived, it was my best sighting of the week.

We spent a some time in the hot tub in the afternoon. We continue to have some struggles with the hot tub circuit breakers tripping.

We headed to The Vue restaurant for an early dinner. We split appetizers of crab dim sum and rock cod cerviche. For entrees, I had Osso Bucco [a tender pork shank braised in chef’s marinade sauce until “fall of the bone”], while Sharon had Tipsy Sardinian [fish, prawns served in spicy vodka sauce with sun dried tomatoes and saffron cream linguini].

This is the fourth time this year that we have eaten at this restaurant!?! We enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

We finished the night watching episodes seven and eight of season four of Downton Abbey and the beginning of Bill Marr. The house has an Amazon Fire TV. I find it very slow and user unfriendly...

First Birthday Party

2020 Work From Sea Ranch - Day 8 [Work From Home - Day 255]

I started the day with a 2.50 power walk to ocean with the Peleton App. Although we had some fog roll in on Thursday night, it was a beautiful morning.

While I worked, Sharon took a five plus hike along the bulff trail in the morning. Afterwards, she went into town and bought some salmon for dinner.

After work, I went for a 45 minute run/walk up the hill to the Ridge Trail with the Peloton. It is an extremely steep climb from the house up to the trail head. I ended up covering 3.5 miles. This run covered the last two miles of our hike on Saturday.

For dinner, I barbecued a dozen osysters, while Sharon cooked salmon, rice and asgargus. We finished the night watching the movie 7 Miles to Vegas on Amazon Prime.

Tiber's Seventh Birthday

Tiber the Corgi is seven years old today!

2020 Work From Sea Ranch - Day 7

Sharon and I took an early morning hike from the Deerfield house to Shell Beach. We covered two miles in just over forty-four minutes.

At lunch, we drove to the One-Eye Jack's picnic area. We parked the car and hiked to the Monarch Glen Interpretive Trail. Although this area is marked on the map that I have, I had never noticed it before. There was a guide for the interpretive trail at the house and it caught our attention. I am glad that we brought the guide from the house because there weren't any in the box at the beginning of the trail. The area is well worth a visit.

After finishing the interpretive trail, we hiked a loop back towards the ocean before heading back to the car. The weather was gorgeous. We have been lucky all week.

At the end of the work day, I did a twenty minute power walk up the hill to the beginning of the Ridge Trail. I used the Peloton app.  Just before I started my walk, the fog started to roll in for the first time since we have been here.

Heading into Gualala to pick up dinner, we stopped for a couple of things at the market. We got a take out pizza from Upper Crust Pizzeria.

We finished the day watching the second Trump Biden Presidential Debate. It wasn't the shitshow that the first debate was. Although I am a California Republican, I do not like Trump.

2020 Work From Sea Ranch - Day 6

I started the day with a 1.90 mile power walk to the bluff trail and a beautiful view of the ocean. Afterwards, I dove into a chaotic work day. We have been working to get on top of an incident since last Thursday morning.

I took a break at lunch and went out for a run. For the first time, I used one of Peloton's outdoor workouts. I covered 5.26 miles in an hour. Running north along the bluff trail, I was surprised to pass Graham View. Sharon and I stayed there in January. I enjoyed the Peloton outdoor workout and will probably start using them more.

After work, Sharon and I spent some time in the hot tub. After some struggles with the hot tub on Sunday, Sharon called and got someone out to reset the system. We have been enjoying the sunsets all week.

I barbecued steaks for dinner. The Gainsleys had bought a couple of extra steaks on Sunday. We finished the day watching The Eleventh Hour with Brian Williams. It is 13 days until Election Day!

Lee's First Birthday

2020 Work From Sea Ranch - Day 5

Up early, I headed across Highway 1 for a quick one mile walk before breakfast. Afterwards, I dove into a heavy work day.

At the end of the work day, Sharon and I hiked across Highway 1 and headed south along the bluffs. We passed Vista Del Mar where Sharon and I stayed for the 20th Anniversary Fall Dinner Party. We turned around and started back just as we reached Kyuka. We stayed at Kyuka with the Sanborns in 2018.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous. Sharon is always excited to come across the sheep!

We had leftover lasagna for dinner. We finished the day watching the Eleventh Hour with Brian Williams.

2020 Work From Sea Ranch - Day 4

I went for an early morning walk towards the ocean. Although we are east of Highway 1, we are only roughly 3/4s of mile from the bluff trail.

Afterwards, I dove into the work day. The Gainsleys headed back to Elk Grove about 9 am. I had debated just bringing my laptop, but at the last minute decided to bring everything: large monitor, keyboard, mouse, usb speaker and web camera. I am glad I did.

We took a break for lunch and drove into Gualala. We had lunch at Trinks Cafe. They have a very large lawn area in the back overlooking the ocean. I had a blackened chicken sandwich, while Sharon had a B B L T [Bacon, Blue Cheese, Tomato, Lettuce on a Sourdough Baguette].

At the end of the work day, Sharon and I hiked down to the bluff trail. We covered three miles in a little over an hour. The weather is gorgeous.

We finished the night with chicken, rice and salad for dinner. We watched most of The Eleventh Hour with Brian Williams. It is going to be an interesting two weeks before election day.

2020 Work From Sea Ranch - Day 3

After a quick breakfast, Kevin, Donna, Sharon and I took off for the Sea Ranch Golf Links. I was pretty happy with how I played; I had a very liberally scored 101.  I was striking the ball well and don't feel like I ever chunked the ball.  I struggled on the par five sixth and thirteenth holes.

Sharon played very well. Sharon had four pars on the front nine, including three pars in a row. She wants to play again at the end of the week.

After golf, I headed back to the house, while everyone else went into Gualala to shop for dinner. I spent the late afternoon in two meetings for work.

Just before dinner, we did a Zoom call with the Larkins. For the first time in almost twenty years, we are not going to host a fall dinner party this year. As a poor substitute, we did a fall dinner party Zoom cocktail hour.

For dinner, Kevin barbecued a couple of steaks. We had a nice dinner of steaks, baked potatoes and salad.

After dinner, we played three games of Unstable Unicorns. I won one game.

We finished a late night struggling with the hot tubs. I think Sharon may have pushed a clean button. Sharon and Kevin spent some time in the hot tub before we crashed...

2020 Work from Sea Ranch - Day 2

After some discussion, we settled on a long hike as the plan for the day. We hiked from the house to the San Andreas Fault Interpretive Trail. Sharon and I hiked to this spot via some different trails with Drew and Jack in August. We ended up covering 8.7 miles in just over three hours and 45 minutes. A map is here. We stopped for lunch on a bench in the middle of the San Andreas Fault Interpretive Trail.

Like August, we ran across a historical marker [Central Timber Production Zone] on the SAG Pond Trail that I am sure wasn't there a couple of years ago. They are adding new markers that are not on the map that I have.

After I ran a long work meeting, we headed into Gualala for an early dinner. The four of us had dinner on the deck at the Vue Kitchen. Sharon and I both had a halibut special. Sharon was disappointed in the meal; the fish was dry.

Back at the house, Sharon talked everyone into playing Unstable Unicorns. Kevin won!

Kevin and I finished the day in the hot tub. It was almost midnight by the time that I crashed.

2020 Work from Sea Ranch - Day 1

After the Sea Ranch trip in August, Sharon and I started talking about the idea that since we are working from home we could work from anywhere. We decided to book ten days back at Sea Ranch.

We rolled from the house about 9. We met the Gainsleys at Blue Farm Wine at about 10:35 am for an 11 am tasting. The owner of Blue Farm was the founder of Donum. The wine was very good.

After the tasting, the four of us stopped in Bogeta Bay at the Tides. We bought some oysters and smoked salmon. We ate a late lunch on the south deck. Sharon made muffuletta sandwiches for lunch.

We got to Gualala about 3:30 pm and picked up the keys to the house. We are spending ten days at Deerfield. The house is on the east side of Highway 1. We haven't stayed on this side of the highway in more than twenty years.

After doing a work Teams meeting, I did a quick loop around the area to explore. Sharon made a lasagna for dinner. The four of us finished the day in the hot tub. Everyone crashed fairly early.

32 Years Ago Today

Thirty-two years ago today, Drew and I met the Tomasin clan at Toomey Field in Davis. We watched Jim Tomasin play for the UC Davis Aggies in a 42 to 13 victory over Sonoma State.

Heading home to East View Drive, we laid down in front of the television and turned on Game 1 of the 1988 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics. In the bottom of the ninth, Kirk Gibson limped to the plate. Gibson hit a walk-off two run homer. As much as I hate the Dodgers, it is probably one of the greatest sports moments I have ever seen. Thankfully, it is the last time that the Dodgers have won the World Series.

Williams "Bill" Bartels

Bill was Becky Frame's sister's husband.

A life well lived is worthy of celebration. Family, friends & neighbors have suffered the loss of Bill Bartels whose life was unexpectedly cut short on August 15th at the age of 71. His overflowing heart just gave out.

Bill was born & raised in San Francisco to John & Bernice Bartels. Bill was an athlete at Lincoln High School & developed a lifelong love & appreciation of baseball. He was drafted by the Dodgers as a prospect, but chose to attend SFSU. He worked for the San Francisco Fire Department & retired as Captain after 30 years of service. His stories about his days in San Francisco are legend. He had a remarkable ability to weave fact with an impish sense of humor. This career allowed Bill the freedom to spend many afternoons with his daughters, helping with homework & supporting their many extracurricular activities.

Always good with words, retirement allowed Bill to read just about everything he could get his hands on. Crossword puzzles were a daily activity for Bill as well. Retirement also gave him the outlet of travel. A cruise, bus tour, flight or Disneyland with the grandkids, were all fair game. This travel life found its high point when he fulfilled his promise to kiss his wife Barbara under the Eiffel Tower for their anniversary. One of his favorite skills honed at the firehouse was cooking, therefore on most afternoons you would find Bill on the cooktop side of the kitchen counter preparing an evening meal while watching the Food Network. He also enjoyed his weekly cocktail hour with the neighbors, laced with stories & neighborhood news of the day.

Bill is survived by his wife of 44 years Barbara, his daughters Breana (John Abdilla), Kerry (Szabolcs Szerenyi), his sister Barbara (Pete Cerri) & his grandchildren Emese & Easton. They are the legacy of a life well lived.

Celebrating our 24th Wedding Anniversary

Typically, we try to take a trip to celebrate our anniversary. In this uncertain pandemic time, we decided to stay close to home and finish the day with dinner on the deck.

I picked up curbside takeout from Ruth Chris. We split a lettuce wedge salad, a baked potato and creamed spinach. Sharon had a filet, while I had a ribeye.

I am going to get her a new set of clubs as a present. She is getting me some golf clothes.

Given the trials of our blended family over the last three years, I have grown to appreciate Sharon more than ever. She has done a great job supporting Jack, Morgan and Lee and Drew and Shannon.

Celebrating Nooter's 65th Birthday!

Emailing with Barb on Sunday, I sent up a Zoom birthday get together for Nooter's 65th Birthday. The Davis Mafia turn out included: Moore; Wallen; Chabrier plus Karen; Gribi; Snipes; Hunter; and, Geselbracht. Nothing is more chaotic than an eleven person Zoom with Hunter.

Catan

I finished the day playing a couple of hours of Catan with Drew and Jack. Although I had a better showing in the long second game, Jack ended up winning both games.

More Adventures with Lee

View this post on Instagram

More Adventures with Lee

A post shared by Mark Heringer (@heringermr) on Oct 10, 2020 at 7:54pm PDT

While Morgan spent the day in class, Sharon and I babysat Lee. We finished the day barbecuing burgers and corn and having dinner on the deck with Lee, Morgan and Daniel.