Massive data breach causes uproar among populace08/01/2019
- Gastón Banderas
An unprecedented breach of healthcare information has caused an uproar among citizens.Chaos struck the entire country this week as millions of public health records were leaked on a website set up for the nefarious purpose of invading the privacy of millions of patients who have accessed the Lykensburgish Public Health Services in years past. The stolen information remained on the site for almost six hours before it was taken down by authorities.
Names, dates of birth, addresses, provincial ID numbers, phone numbers, prescription and other medical histories, and insurance information were specific data that was stolen by unknown actors. Privacy groups are up in arms at such an egregious breach of the public’s records, especially those that are held by and intended to be protected by the government. Among critics this afternoon is the opposition Fatherland Union, which immediately laid the blame at the feet of State Counselor Kenneth Diaz.
Javier Bustillo, Leader of the Fatherland Union, had this to say,
“While State Counselor Diaz has focused on running around from capital to capital to build support for his so-called ‘Mu-Kal Union’, we at home have come under a vicious attack. This government has shown time and again that it is neglectful of the concerns and ailments of the people, and continues its attempt to deflect and distract from their repeated failures on the domestic front. The Fatherland Union will take our message to the provinces and campaign to restore a government that fulfills its duties, not shirk it.”
The other main opposition party, the Progressive Front, insisted that a decision on responsibility could not be made until all facts had been discovered, and instead lambasted any actors, foreign or domestic, who would engage is such nefarious acts against millions of patients who had done nothing wrong except check into a healthcare facility.
So far, Condado Street has deferred comment except to declare that a full investigation is taking place by cyber security officials and staff and that findings would be made public at the earliest convenience. This cyber attack is not the first in Lykensburgish history, but it is one of the worst, with the total number of victims totaling almost 14 million, doubling the population of the most populous province. The identities of most of these people have not been verified by independent media, as word of the website led to its immediate shutdown by cyber security officials, but it is unknown who could have accessed and saved any of the information for the several hours it was online.
The last major cyber attack in Lykens occurred in 2014 and was a breach of a provincial bank, leading to similar information as well as routing numbers and account passwords for several thousand bank members being released to the general public. And uproar occurred as a few hundred people lost access to many thousands of dollars held in their now compromised accounts. In settling these losses, the bank was forced to close.
The first cyber attack in Lykens occurred in 2009, with a massive Denial of Service, or DOS, attack rendering public transit kiosks across the nation unusable, crippling public transportation for three entire days. It was credited with the loss of almost 700 million dollars lost due to the inability of workers to get to their places of employment. A dedicated cyber security department was created and worked diligently to prevent future attacks, to some success.
Thwarting several attempted attacks over the last five years, it appears the cyber security forces have failed. It remains to be seen whether this is an isolated attack, one that spans Mu-Kal, or even a part of a global attack on national governments across Olympia. Cyber security officials have yet to make any sort of predictions, saying that the incident is being treated as a lone wolf attack.
More on the story as it develops.
