Experts flag increased cyber attacks on hospitals; U.S. sanctions Iran bank subsidiary

FILE – Lurie Children’s Hospital sign is seen at the hospital as patients walk in, Feb. 5, 2024, in Skokie, Ill. A cyberattack on a renowned children’s hospital in Chicago has left some parents scrambling. They’ve had to reschedule surgeries on babies or scramble to get prescriptions filled for their sick kids. Experts warn this is just the start of a growing trend of foreign criminals attacking U.S. hospitals for hefty ransoms. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Cybersecurity experts are warning that hospitals around the United States are at risk for attacks such as the one that’s crippling operations at a premier Midwestern children’s hospital.

Experts want federal regulators to do more to prevent such breaches. Assailants often operate from American adversaries such as Russia, North Korea and Iran, where they enjoy big payouts from their victims and face little prospect of ever being punished.

Federal health officials acknowledge the increase in cyberattacks on hospitals and say they are working to develop new rules to help health care facilities. But they say more money is needed from Congress to help hospitals protect themselves.

“Unfortunately, the unintended consequence of the use of all this network and internet connected technology is it expanded our digital attack surface,” said John Riggi, the American Hospital Association’s cybersecurity adviser.

U.S. sanctions Iran Central Bank subsidiary

The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on three people and four firms — across Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey — for allegedly helping to export goods and technology purchased from U.S. companies to Iran and the nation’s central bank.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the procurement network transferred U.S. technology for use by Iran’s Central Bank in violation of U.S. export restrictions and sanctions.

Included in the sanctions package is Informatics Services Corp., an Iranian subsidiary of Iran’s Central Bank; a UAE-based front company, which acquired U.S. tech for the Central Bank of Iran and the front company’s CEO, as well as a Turkey-based affiliate firm that also made purchases that ended up in Iran.