Digital Ministry urges agencies, firms to step up cybersecurity protection

[webfact]

 

By Tanakorn Sangiam

   

BANGKOK (NNT) - Following recent cases of cyberattacks at hospitals, the Ministry of s Digital Economy and Society today encouraged government agencies and private firms holding personal information of customers and patients, to ensure their databases are adequately protected, saying these recent cases were not the first.

 

The Ministry of a Digital Economy and Society (MDES) today held a press conference regarding a recent breech of patient data at Phetchabun Hospital, outlining the types of data leaked and how the incident took place.

 

The Minister of a Digital Economy and Society, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn said today the MDES and National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) has visited the affected hospital and talked to the IT staff to investigate the attack.

 

Initial investigation shows the breech took place within a web portal and application utilized internally by the hospital, while the lack of updates to the hospital’s IT system posed a vulnerability to cyber attacks.

 

The authorities have identified data breeched in this incident including patient names, information from the outpatients’ department, doctors schedule, and patient details from a COVID-19 field hospital. Sensitive data related to patients’ health and treatment are reportedly safe.

 

The hospital has already taken action by removing the software in question from the system, and disabling the system’s connectivity to external networks.

 

The Minister of a Digital Economy and Society says officials from related agencies are now working to arrest and prosecute those involved, while urging government agencies and organizations that maintain a large database of personal information in their systems, to store the information very carefully, with an adequate level of cybersecurity protection.

 

For government agencies, the MDES has ThaiCERT and GovernmentCERT teams to provide cybersecurity protection.

 

Hacking, or any unauthorized access to a system or database, is considered a violation to the Cybersecurity Act and the Personal Data Protection Act, with punishment of up to 1 year’s imprisonment; up to 1 million baht fine, or a combined penalty.

 

Gp Capt Amorn Chomchoey, Director of Thailand Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCERT), said the data breech at Phetchabun Hospital is not the first case to have happened, as previous incidents that may not have been of the same magnitude, were not reported in the news.

 

He stressed the importance of protective measures in data safety, citing the World Economic Forum’s 0.5% success rate arresting hackers responsible in these breeches.

 

Other incidents of cyberattacks reported in recent days include a breech of customer data at CP Freshmart. The company today acknowledged that the personal data of its customers, including names, phone numbers, and email addresses had been breeched. They company says however, that no credit card information was leaked.

 

A ransomware attack also took place at Bhumirajanagarindra Kidney Institute Hospital, where digital files of some 40,000 patients have been encrypted and made inaccessible since Monday morning. The hospital has already filed a case with the police, while attempting to decrypt the affected files instead of paying the ransom demanded.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-09-09

 

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[ThailandRyan]

Maybe the government should as well....they seem to be the ones who get hit the most...just saying.

[DirtyHarry55]

Were they really Cyber Attacks or did they just leave the data online in the cloud for the taking?
Like they did with that Covid Registration website.
Block port 3306 from outside access that might help.

[phetphet]

Bangkok Airways and now a hospital. Been one of my biggest fears here: Lack of cyber security.

 

When you consider all the personal information collected and held on us by immigration alone, not even including the, banks, hospitals, airlines, government apps like Morchana etc., and the increased possibility of it getting into the wrong hands due to said lack of security. It's bloody scary.

You only have to look at the state of some of the government websites to see the lack of care taken.

[tomacht8]

14 minutes ago, phetphet said:

Bangkok Airways and now a hospital. Been one of my biggest fears here: Lack of cyber security.

 

When you consider all the personal information collected and held on us by immigration alone, not even including the, banks, hospitals, airlines, government apps like Morchana etc., and the increased possibility of it getting into the wrong hands due to said lack of security. It's bloody scary.

You only have to look at the state of some of the government websites to see the lack of care taken.

I see it that way too. When bank details and credit card details fall into the wrong hands, the trouble really starts. The time and effort to get back unauthorized money withdrawn is enormous.

[phetphet]

1 hour ago, tomacht8 said:

I see it that way too. When bank details and credit card details fall into the wrong hands, the trouble really starts. The time and effort to get back unauthorized money withdrawn is enormous.

i think the Bangkok Airways one included name, address, email address, telephone number, credit or debit card details and more importantly passport details. Quite easy for someone to build a whole new fake identity with that lot I would imagine.

[hotchilli]

Maybe the government should have a cyber security team that are experts and check all government agencies networks, apps websites etc etc.

Not leave it up to individual agencies to do the job.

[Jimbo2014]

Thailand has a "Ministry of s Digital Economy and Society"??  Why then do I have to photocopy and sign about 1000 pages of paper to do anything with the government?  Where is 4.0? (4 times the paperwork, 4 times the wait, 4 times the cost).

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, Jimbo2014 said:

Thailand has a "Ministry of s Digital Economy and Society"??  Why then do I have to photocopy and sign about 1000 pages of paper to do anything with the government?  Where is 4.0? (4 times the paperwork, 4 times the wait, 4 times the cost).

Not only the government. I had to sign my name at least 15 times (I lost count in the end) simply to get a new ATM card when Bangkok Bank was urging replacement a couple of years ago. I'd renewed my passport and that threw them into a panic. It all took about an hour, and not once did the employee smile or speak with me other than to tell me to sign here, there and everywhere.

[mark131v]

You just know that the people making the proclamation are more than likely using knock off versions of Windows bought for Bt 50 from the market, same as every other Thai organisation...