{"id":340352,"date":"2025-08-13T05:27:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T05:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340352\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T05:27:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T05:27:19","slug":"mri-scans-x-rays-and-more-leaked-online-in-major-breach-over-a-million-healthcare-devices-affected-heres-what-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340352\/","title":{"rendered":"MRI scans, X-rays and more leaked online in major breach &#8211; over a million healthcare devices affected, here&#8217;s what we know"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul id=\"a76ad8af-b320-48ff-b07b-55aaa61acb52\">\n<li><strong>Modat found more than 1.2 million misconfigured devices leaking info<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>This includes MRI scans, X-rays, and other sensitive files, together with patient contact data<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The healthcare industry needs a proactive approach to cybersecurity, researchers warn<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"2e682938-60f4-431d-929f-f527eb8072d2\">Researchers have warned there are currently over a million internet-connected healthcare devices which are misconfigured, leaking all the data they generate online &#8211; putting millions of people at risk of <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/best\/best-identity-theft-protection\" target=\"_blank\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/best\/best-identity-theft-protection\" rel=\"noopener\">identity theft<\/a>, phishing, wire fraud, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Modat recently scanned the internet in search of misconfigured, non-password protected, devices and their data, and by using the tag \u2018HEALTHCARE\u2019, they found more than 1.2 million devices which were generating, and leaking, confidential medical images including MRI scans, X-rays, and even blood work, of hospitals all over the world.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"2e682938-60f4-431d-929f-f527eb8072d2-2\">\u201cExamples of data being leaked in this way include brain scans and X-rays, stored alongside protected health information and personally identifiable information of the patient, potentially representing both a breach of patient\u2019s confidentiality and privacy,\u201d the researchers explained.<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-75f64d53-e257-45aa-943d-c14a280d4667\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/>Weak passwords and other woes<\/p>\n<p id=\"146b59cd-33b3-4f84-a326-e59e9d3da1e3\">In some cases, the researchers found information unlocked and available for anyone who knows where to look &#8211; and in other cases, the data was protected with such weak and predictable passwords that it posed no challenge to break in and grab them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the worst-case scenario, leaked sensitive medical information could leave unsuspecting victims open to fraud or even blackmail over a confidential medical condition,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n<p>In theory, a threat actor could learn of a patient\u2019s condition before they do. Together with names and contact details, they can reach out to the patient and threaten to release the information to friends and family, unless they pay a ransom.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, they could impersonate the doctor or the hospital and send phishing emails inviting the victim to \u201cview sensitive files\u201d which would just redirect them to download malware or share login credentials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!<\/p>\n<p>The majority of the misconfigured devices are located in the United States (174K+), with South Africa being close second (172K+). Australia (111K+), Brazil (82K+), and Germany (81K+) round off the top five.<\/p>\n<p>For Modat, a proactive security culture \u201cbeats a reactive response\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis research reinforces the urgent need for comprehensive asset visibility, robust vulnerability management, and a proactive approach to securing every internet-connected device in healthcare environments, ensuring that sensitive patient data remains protected from unauthorized access and potential exploitation,&#8221; commented Errol Weiss, Chief Security Officer at Health-ISAC.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-you-might-also-like\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/>You might also like<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Modat found more than 1.2 million misconfigured devices leaking info This includes MRI scans, X-rays, and other sensitive&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-340352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115019805112420391","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}