June 13, 2021
Modern Healthcare
Vikas Singla, the chief operating officer of an Atlanta-based Securolytics, a network security company serving healthcare organizations, was arraigned last week on charges that in 2018 he caused a cyberattack on a Georgia hospital.
According to the Department of Justice, Singla allegedly caused a cyberattack on Gwinnett Medical Center that “involved disrupting phone service, obtaining information from a digitizing device, and disrupting network printer service.” The indictment further alleges that the cyberattack was conducted, in part, for financial gain.
In October 2018, Gwinnett Medical Center reported a breach that revealed the information of 40 patients on Twitter, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Cyberattacks that target important infrastructure, like healthcare, pose a serious threat to public health and safety,” Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine said in a news release, “In this case, Singla allegedly compromised Gwinnett Medical Center’s operations in part for his own personal gain.”
Singla has been arraigned on 17 counts of intentional damage to a protected computer and one count of obtaining information from a protected computer,
A federal grand jury indicted him on June 8. Singla pleaded not guilty to all 18 charges, court documents show. He was released on an unsecured $20,000 bond and is to return to court June 23.
