Hacker demands $10m for Virginia health records

[faceless]

FBI Probes Hacker's $10 Million Ransom Demand for Stolen Virginia Medical Records
May 06, 2009

The FBI is investigating a $10 million ransom demand by a hacker or hackers who say they have stolen nearly 8.3 million patient records from a Virginia government Web site that tracks prescription drug abuse, an FBI official confirmed Wednesday. The state police in Virginia are also investigating the possible breach of confidential records.

The FBI official said the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) referred the case to the FBI last week, asking for help. Asked whether people's personal information is secure, the official said he couldn't say. "I really can't make a declarative statement as to whether anyone's information is in jeopardy at this point," the official said. Asked whether people have been notified that their information may have been breached, the official said it would be up to VITA to do that.

The rogue government-transparency Web site WikiLeaks on Sunday put up a message that it said was posted Thursday on the front page of the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program's Web site.

The Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program's Web site, http://www.pmp.dhp.virginia.gov/, was offline Wednesday afternoon. The Virginia Department of Health Professions, which runs the program, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. As Michael Fitzpatrick, president and CEO of the NCX Group, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based computer-security consulting firm, explained, "If the story wasn't true, the site would be back up."

The Washington Post's Security Fix blogger, Brian Krebs, sought comment from the Department of Health Professions and was told: "There is a criminal investigation under way by federal and state authorities, and we take the information security very serious." The Department of Health Professions Web site had its own message: "The Virginia Department of Health Professions is currently experiencing technical difficulties which affect computer and email systems. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

Laura Southerd, an official from the Virginia Department of Health, said the DOH is separate from the Department of Health Professions and uses different software to put up its Web site. "The Prescription Monitoring Program Web site is now secure," she said. "But yes, something did happen."

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I've a feeling that some teenager will be having his bedroom door kicked in pre-tty soon.

[11antoniacourt]

[Kezza]

Wow, I live in Virginia & I didn't know about this. Friggin' dopes in the the state capital (Richmond) don't know their arse from a hole in the ground. My tax dollars at work - hooray!