Hackers Breach Hospitals’ Security Cameras

Attackers accessed live feeds of 150,000 surveillance cameras inside hospitals, prisons and schools

By By Dan Hounsell


Cyber attacks are striking at the heart of healthcare organizations. An unauthorized individual gained access to two employees' email accounts for a Michigan health system, potentially exposing about 45,000 patients' information. A ransomware attack that led to electronic health record (EHR) outages at 400 care sites last year cost the healthcare system about $67 million. In the latest reported attack, security cameras were the target.

A group of hackers say they breached a massive trove of security-camera data collected by Silicon Valley start-up Verkada Inc., gaining access to live feeds of 150,000 surveillance cameras inside hospitals, companies, police departments, prisons and schools, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Hackers viewed video from inside women’s health clinics, psychiatric hospitals and the offices of Verkada itself. Some of the cameras, including in hospitals, use facial-recognition technology to identify and categorize people captured on the footage. The hackers say they also have access to the full video archive of all Verkada customers.



March 12, 2021


Topic Area: Information Technology


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