No smiles: Hundreds of US dentists targeted in ransomware attack

Hundreds of dentist offices across the U.S. have been crippled by ransomware in the latest attack to target the healthcare industry.

The attacks appear to have started as early as June 24 with some reports of ransomware affecting dentists in July. But a more widespread attack targeting dentists occurred Aug. 26, according to security researcher Brian Krebs.

The recent attack targeted services from PerCSoft, a provider of technology solutions for the dental industry, and The Digital Dental Record, a provider of an online medical data backup service called DDS Safe. The two companies are related, with The Digital Record using PerCSoft for information technology services.

Roughly 400 dentists are said to have been affected with the Sodinokibi ransomware that encrypted files and demanded a ransom payment. In a statement today, The Digital Dental Record said that the “ransomware had been deployed on the remote management software our product uses to back up client data” and that “immediate action was taken to investigate and contain the threat.”

Source: No smiles: Hundreds of US dentists targeted in ransomware attack / siliconAngle