Okta alerts customer support system users to data breach

Cyber actors attacking the Okta Help Center customer support management system in October downloaded a report containing the names and email addresses of all system users, and could use this information to target these customers via phishing and social engineering attacks, the company announced.

“The Okta breach exemplifies that even organizations with advanced cybersecurity defenses, including major cybersecurity firms, are not immune to successful cyberattacks by sophisticated adversaries,” said John Riggi, AHA’s national advisor for cybersecurity and risk. “This situation also generally highlights the significant and often unavoidable cyber risk exposure we face through the use of third-party software in our networks. Hospitals and health systems that use Okta services and technology should review the Okta advisory for possible cyber risk exposure, utilize phishing-resistant multifactor authentication, and alert help desk and general staff to possible advanced social engineering and phishing schemes based on the compromised Okta information.”

For more information on this or other cyber and risk issues, contact Riggi at jriggi@aha.org. For the latest cyber and risk resources and threat intelligence, visit aha.org/cybersecurity.