FILE - Lurie Children’s Hospital sign is seen at the hospital as patients walk in, Feb. 5, 2024, in Skokie, Ill. (Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo, File)
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Hospitals have shifted their use of online technology to support everything from telehealth to medical devices to patient records. Today, they are a favorite target for internet thieves who hold systems’ data and networks hostage for hefty ransoms.

Lurie Children’s Hospital sign is seen at the hospital as patients walk in, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Skokie. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh)

Officials at Lurie Children’s Hospital said Thursday that they are still working with the FBI and other law enforcement but told reporters that a “known criminal threat actor” had accessed the hospital’s network.

(WTTW News)
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The data breach occurred Dec. 1 and technology vendor Battelle for Kids notified CPS on April 26, the district said Friday. A server used to store student and staff information was breached and four years' worth of records were accessed, CPS said.

A Joint Cybersecurity Advisory published by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency about destructive malware that is targeting organizations in Ukraine is photographed Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. (AP Photo / Jon Elswick)

So far, Ukraine’s internet mostly works, its president still able to rally global support via a smartphone, and its power plants and other critical infrastructure still able to function. The kind of devastating cyberattacks thought likely to accompany a large-scale Russian military invasion haven’t happened.

In this photo March 22, 2013, photo, the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh, File)
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The agency said it would no longer use a third-party service, called ID.me, for facial recognition. Critics of the software said the database could become a target for cyberthreats. 

In this Sept. 20, 2021, photo Austin Moody poses for a photo as he sits a his home work station in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo / Steve Nesius)
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Hiring and keeping staff capable of helping fend off a constant stream of cyberattacks and less severe online threats tops the list of concerns for state technology leaders. 

This Feb. 24, 2021 photo shows a T-Mobile store at a shopping mall in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo / Keith Srakocic)
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The names, Social Security numbers and information from driver’s licenses or other identification of just over 40 million people who applied for T-Mobile credit were exposed in a recent data breach, the company said Wednesday.

Amid the unveiling of Illinois’ Vax Verify system, concerns are raised about the security of the vaccine verification portal. (WTTW News)

Could Illinois’ vaccine verification portal — known as Vax Verify — leave residents’ personal information vulnerable to hacking? We discuss privacy concerns surrounding the newly unveiled portal.

President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
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President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said.

Members of the Chicago City Council meet on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. (WTTW News)

“We don’t want to provide a road map” for others who seek to obtain the city’s data, Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) said.

A sign is displayed outside a McDonald's restaurant, Tuesday, April 27, 2021, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo / Charlie Neibergall)
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McDonald’s has become the latest company to be hit by a data breach after unauthorized activity on its network exposed the personal data of some customers in South Korea and Taiwan.

Law enforcement officials walk past an Operation Trojan Shield logo at a news conference, Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in San Diego. (AP Photo / Denis Poroy)

An operation known as Trojan Shield led to police raids in 16 nations. More than 800 suspects were arrested and more than 32 tons of drugs — including cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and methamphetamines — were seized along with 250 firearms, 55 luxury cars and more than $148 million in cash and cryptocurrencies.

This poster provided by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Maxsim Yukabets. Yakubets, 33, is best known as co-leader of a cybergang that calls itself Evil Corp. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)

The escalating havoc caused by ransomware gangs raises an obvious question: Why has the United States, believed to have the world’s greatest cyber capabilities, looked so powerless to protect its citizens from these kind of criminals operating with near impunity out of Russia and allied countries?

In this Oct. 3, 2017, file photo, tourists ride classic convertible cars on the Malecon beside the United States Embassy in Havana, Cuba. (AP Photo / Desmond Boylan, File)
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The Biden administration is facing new pressure to resolve a mystery that has vexed its predecessors: Is an adversary using a microwave or radio wave weapon to attack the brains of U.S. diplomats, spies and military personnel?

(Photo by Peter Gombos on Unsplash)
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Some parts of the country still face gas shortages related to the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, and the incident has drawn attention to the growing threat cyberattacks pose in the U.S. and around the world. We discuss the increasing threat and what to do about it.

A pump at a gas station in Silver Spring, Md., is out of service, notifying customers they are out of fuel, Thursday, May 13, 2021. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The operator of the nation’s largest gasoline pipeline — hit on May 7 by a ransomware attack — announced Saturday that it has resumed “normal operations,” delivering fuel to its markets, including a large swath of the East Coast.