The Target: Scranton Cardiology
The Take: Exposure of Personally Identifiable Information including: full names, physical addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, driver’s license, passport numbers, credit card and bank number details, and some medical information.
The Vector: The breach occurred through a “brute-force” attack where the threat actor uses a program to sequentially try every combination to a password protected system.
This breach is a critical reminder of standards and processes around password hygiene. Length and complexity for passwords, no matter where in a firm’s system they are set, is crucial for a robust overall cyber-security posture. When attackers gain access to legitimate employee credentials, they can act with all the permissions and privileges belong to the user.