A US-based cyber security firm FireEye recently revealed that cyber criminals hacked an Indian healthcare website, stealing 68 lakh records comprising patients and doctors information.

As per an IANS report, the security firm said hackers mostly China-based are selling healthcare data in the underground market. The security firm didn’t reveal the name of the healthcare website which has been targeted.

“In February, a bad actor that goes by the name “fallensky519″ stole 6,800,000 records associated with an India-based healthcare website that contains patient information and personally identifiable information (PII), doctor information and PII and credentials,” FireEye said in its report.

Between October 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019, FireEye Threat Intelligence observed multiple healthcare-associated databases for sale on underground forums, many for under $2,000.

FireEye said it continues to witness a concerted focus on acquiring healthcare research by multiple Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) groups.

“In particular, it is likely that an area of unique interest is cancer-related research, reflective of China’s growing concern over increasing cancer and mortality rates, and the accompanying national health care costs,” the cyber security agency noted.

Open source reports indicate that cancer mortality rates have increased dramatically in recent decades, making cancer China’s leading cause of death.

As the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to pursue universal healthcare by 2020, controlling costs and domestic industry will surely affect the PRC’s strategy to maintain political stability,” said the FireEye report.

“Targetting medical research and data from studies may enable Chinese corporations to bring new drugs to market faster than Western competitors,” the report claimed.

In early April this year, suspected Chinese cyber espionage actors targeted a US-based health center-with a strong focus on cancer research – with “EVILNUGGET” malware.

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