Over 100 dental clinics are under ransomware attacks

Recently, a Colorado company that specializes in providing IT services to dental clinics suffered a ransomware attack that affected the operation of more than 100 dental clinics.  Multiple sources said that the attack on Complete Technology Solutions (CTS) caused more than 100 dental clinics were infected by ransomware called “Sodinokibi” (also known as REvil).

It is understood that the attack on CTS began on November 25, now still affects many customers. Just two months after SodiokiBi attacked Wisconsin’s dental IT provider PopSoSo, this attack against a dental clinic occurred, which encrypted files for about 400 dental procedures.  A person familiar with the matter said that after the incident, CTS began talking to several of the attacked companies and telephoned third-party security companies to help restore the system, while refusing to pay the $700,000 ransom demanded by the attackers.

“Ransomware Yellow”by Infosec Images is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Thomas Terronez, chief executive officer of the Iowa dental company Medix Dental, said security measures across the dental industry are pretty harsh and few organizations are willing to spend the money they need to defend against sophisticated attackers. It is often found that many dental organizations have problems that have not been repaired for more than a year, backups that have not run for a period of time, non-segmented wireless networks… Employees who have access to the computer sometimes use the same or simple passwords.

From the countless network security incidents that have occurred in various industries in recent years, experts feel that the network is the foundation of any organization. The issue of network security is of vital importance. Any organization should pay more attention to it!