UK’s NHS Hospital Postpones Transplants Due To Ransomware Attack
Given the lack of IT staffers in healthcare, this news is not surprising by any means. Hospitals remain a prime target for online criminals these days. One new type of virus shut down an entire UK hospital’s systems, leading to all planned operations getting canceled. Although UK MEPs are discussing new cyber security measures, this NHS attack highlights the dire need for better computer security. For now, it remains unclear which type of malware was used during the attack. All scheduled operations and organ transplants at the National Health Service’s Lincolnshire and Goods trust were....
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A cyberattack targeting a Hollywood hospital laced with ransomware malware has been making rounds in mainstream news circles recently. In a separate incident, the Horry County school system in North Carolina was also struck by a ransomware cyberattack. The cyberattack on Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center lasted nearly a fortnight after beginning on 5 Feb, with hospital systems affected and staff declaring an ‘internal emergency’. On Wednesday, the hospital announced that it had relented and paid the ransom demanded by extortionists. $17,000 in bitcoins. The attack began on the evening....
Another hospital was attacked again with a crypto-locking malware called “Locky.” Henderson Kentucky Methodist Hospital had announced an “Internal State of Emergency” after the system was infected by the malicious computer program. Just after the recent Ottawa hospital attack and the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center extortion, which allowed hackers....
US and Canada cyber security agencies issued an alert last week regarding an increasing number of ransomware attacks against healthcare organizations. Five providers, in just the last month alone, have been infected with such computer viruses, and often they are forced to pay Bitcoin ransoms. “Malicious software” infected the computer system at Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego last month. Two other hospitals, Chino Valley Medical Center and Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville, were also infected. Each of these infected parties is a Prime Healthcare Hospital. In Indiana,....
There are rumors circulating this healthcare institution is affected by Bitcoin ransomware, as one staffer mentioned how she saw a pop-up on two different computer screens. In this pop-up windows, there was information about the infection, and instructions to pay a ransom through “some form of Internet currency”. Those details have not been officially confirmed at the time of publication, though. Another hospital in the United States has fallen victim to a virus bringing their services to a halt. MedStar Hospital Center, located in Washington, noticed the virus intrusion early Monday....
Ransomware attacks have quadrupled this year over last year, averaging 4,000 per day, according to the U.S. Justice Department, The Wall Street Journal reported in a front-page story recently. This is because ransomware has become easier to deploy and more profitable than other scams, and bitcoin is more widely used. The FBI noted ransomware costs totaled $209 million in the first three months this year, compared to a total $24 million for all of 2015. Costs include lost productivity and time needed to recover files. Ransomware losses averaged $333,000 per incident in the first three....