Edmond cybersecurity CEO accused in major hack at hospital
An Edmond cyber security firm owner is accused of a major attack at a local hospital.
An Edmond cyber security firm owner is accused of a major attack at a local hospital.
An Edmond cyber security firm owner is accused of a major attack at a local hospital.
An Edmond cyber security firm owner is accused of a major attack at a local hospital.
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Investigators said he walked right into St. Anthony Hospital and put malicious malware on an employee’s computer, which could have exposed critical patient data.
Jeffrey Bowie is listed as the CEO of a cyber security company based in Edmond, but instead of helping protect St. Anthony Hospital from hackers, authorities said he was the hacker and installed malware.
A company hiring cyber security specialists to act like hackers and find security weak spots is a common practice.
“We dress up as a FedEx person or some type of delivery person,” said Donovan Farrow, CEO of Alias Cyber Security.
But the owner of an Oklahoma cyber security company is now charged with installing malware at St. Anthony Hospital.
New court documents reveal security cameras captured Bowie wandering around the hospital on August 6, where he tried to get into multiple offices until he stumbled upon two computers.
One of those computers was for employees only.
In 10 minutes, authorities said he installed a “malware designed to take a screenshot every 20 minutes and forward the image out to an external IP address.”
When an employee found and questioned him, he told the employee he had a family member in surgery and needed the computer.
“I wasn’t that surprised,” Farrow said.
KOCO 5 spoke with his previous employer, Alias Cyber Security.
They said they let him go several years back because of ethics concerns.
“Some people just do things out of desperation just trying to grow themselves and stuff like that. I love the cybersecurity community. I want everyone to grow in that, but this is uncalled for, and it puts a bit of a stain on this type of business,” Farrow said.
KOCO 5 attempted to call Bowie’s cyber security company on Wednesday, but the call never went through.
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The hospital conducted a forensic review and discovered the software and told KOCO 5 that no patient data was accessed.
An arrest warrant for Bowie was issued on Monday and he was later arrested by Oklahoma City police.
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