Franklin County, Kansas Falls Victim to Ransomware Attack
Franklin County, Kansas recently fell victim to a ransomware attack that involved the theft of protected health information stored on its network. The attack was detected on May 20, 2024, and a nationally recognized digital forensics firm was engaged to assist with securing its network and investigating the incident.
The investigation confirmed that on May 19, 2024, data had been exfiltrated, including the protected health information of individuals who had previously received services from the County Health Department and the County Adult Detention Center.
The investigation and document review are ongoing, so it is currently unclear how many individuals have been affected. The breach has been reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights as affecting at least 501 individuals. The total will be updated when the investigation and document review have been finished. Franklin County officials have confirmed that the compromised data includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, diagnosis information, treatment information, medical record numbers, vaccination information, dates of service, medication information, health insurance identification numbers, and/or other health insurance information.
Franklin County is using dark web monitoring tools to check whether any of the stolen data has been published and, at the time of publishing its substitute breach notice, no data appears to have been published online or offered for sale. Franklin County has also deployed additional security monitoring tools to enhance detection and accelerate response to cyber incidents; strengthened network access security requirements; disabled inactive user accounts, and implemented enhanced technical security solutions including updated firewall protections to prevent similar attacks in the future.
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The City of Columbus in Franklin County, OHIO recently fell victim to a cyberattack by the Rhysida ransomware group which leaked data stolen in the attack. That attack is unrelated to the attack on Franklin County, Kansas.
