Hackers last week broke into a Virginia state Web site used by pharmacists to track prescription drug abuse. They deleted records on more than 8 million patients and replaced the site’s homepage with a ransom note demanding $10 million for the return of the records, according to a posting on Wikileaks.org, an online clearinghouse for leaked documents.<\/p>\n
Wikileaks reports that the Web site for the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program was defaced last week with a message claiming that the database of prescriptions had been bundled into an encrypted, password-protected file.<\/p>\n
Wikileaks has published a copy of the ransom note left in place of the PMP home page, a message that claims the state of Virginia would need to pay the demand in order to gain access to a password needed to unlock those records:<\/p>\n
“I have your [expletive] In *my* possession, right now, are 8,257,378 patient records and a total of 35,548,087 prescriptions. Also, I made an encrypted backup and deleted the original. Unfortunately for Virginia, their backups seem to have gone missing, too. Uhoh :(For $10 million, I will gladly send along the password.”<\/p>\n
The site, along with a number of other Web pages related to Virginia Department of Health Professions, remains unreachable at this time. Sandra Whitley Ryals, director of Virginia’s Department of Health Professions, declined to discuss details of the hacker’s claims, and referred inquires to the FBI.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This the principle reason why I am oppposed to on-line medical records, the risk that someone could break into the system and steal private information is simply to great.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hackers apparently broke into Virginia’s Health Professions Database last week and stole data on more than 8 million patients and replaced the site’s homepage\u00a0 with ransom note demanding $10 million. Brian Krebs has the details: Hackers last week broke into a Virginia state Web site used by pharmacists to track prescription drug abuse. They deleted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,7],"tags":[204,1366,650],"class_list":{"0":"post-2123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-health-care","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-hacking","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-virginia","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-yf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2656,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/27\/obamacare-would-compel-irs-to-share-tax-records-with-health-care-bureaucrats\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":0},"title":"ObamaCare Would Compel IRS to Share Tax Records with Health Care Bureaucrats","author":"Jeff","date":"August 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"If you've spent even a small amount of time reading through the massive House Health Care Reform bill (H.R. 3200) you know the devil is in the details. You also know the deeper you dig the more devilish the details become... Take, for example, Sections 245, 431 and 1801 which,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health Care"","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2659,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/27\/arrogance-congressman-asks-for-voters-id-before-answering-question\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":1},"title":"Arrogance: Congressman Asks For Voters ID Before Answering Question – Updated","author":"Jeff","date":"August 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I've have to hand it to Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia... I didn't think members could be anymore dismissive or condescending towards constituents than Steny Hoyer or Nancy Pelosi, who called town hall protesters un-American in a USA Today op-ed... But Congressman Moran found a way to sink to a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health Care"","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3758,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/13\/breaking-federal-judge-rules-obamacare-individual-mandate-unconstitutional\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":2},"title":"Breaking: Federal Judge Rules ObamaCare Individual Mandate Unconstitutional","author":"Jeff","date":"December 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"U.S. District Court judge Henry Hudson has ruled key provision of the Democrats health care reform law unconstitutional. from The Wall Street Journal: A federal district judge sided with the state of Virginia in its challenge to the health law passed in March, saying Congress exceeded its \"constitutional boundaries\" when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Breaking News"","block_context":{"text":"Breaking News","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/breaking-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3419,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/28\/robert-byrd-longest-serving-u-s-senator-dies-at-92\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":3},"title":"Robert Byrd, Longest-Serving U.S. Senator, Dies at 92","author":"Jeff","date":"June 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd passed away early this morning at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va. He was 92. Robert Byrd, the 92-year-old West Virginia Democrat who served in the U.S. Senate for 51 years, died Monday. A family spokesman said Mr. Byrd died peacefully at about 3 a.m. at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":385,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/17\/sarah-palins-private-e-mail-account-hacked-updated\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":4},"title":"Sarah Palin’s Private E-mail Account Hacked – Updated","author":"Jeff","date":"September 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Scroll For Updates... Network World and Wired are reporting that Sarah Palin's private Yahoo mail account has been hacked and that screenshots of messages have been posted on various web sites. 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