Hackers are stepping up attacks on health care systems with ransomware in the United States and other countries, creating new risks for medical care as the global coronavirus pandemic accelerates. Alerts from US authorities and security researchers highlight a wave of cyberattacks on hospitals coping with rising virus infections. An unusual warning this week from the FBI with the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, underscored the threat. The three agencies “have credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to US hospitals and health care providers,” said the alert issued Wednesday, calling on health systems to “take timely and reasonable precautions to protect their networks from these threats.”
Ransomware is a longstanding security issue and health care has been a frequent target. A September attack disrupted Universal Health Services, which operates hospitals in the US and Britain. But security experts say the attacks are accelerating as the pandemic worsens. Researchers at the security firm Check Point said its survey showed health care has been the most targeted industry by ransomware, with a 71 percent jump in attacks on US providers in October from a month earlier. Check Point said there have been significant rises in ransomware attacks on hospitals in Asia, Europe and the Middle East as well. Globally, the firm said ransomware attacks were up 50 percent in the third quarter compared with the first half of this year . Many of the attacks use a strain of ransomware known as Ryuk, which security researchers say may be tied to North Korean or Russian cybercriminals. The US government warning said health organizations are being targeted by phishing attacks to get access to the systems, with hackers using sophisticated tools including TrickBot software which can harvest credentials and exfiltrate data. The Canadian government’s Cyber Centre issued a similar warning in early October, warning of Ryuk ransomware “affecting multiple entities, including municipal governments and public health and safety organizations in Canada and abroad. “The ransomware problem is steadily worsening and a solution desperately needs to be found,” said Brett Callow of the security firm Emsisoft”.