Do you remember, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when hackers said they wouldn’t target healthcare organizations? Well, they lied.
In April of this year, at least two Canadian organizations working on a vaccine for COVID-19 suffered a ransomware attack. More recently, a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer based out of India, had to shut down several of its facilities in Brazil, India, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is the contractor for Russia’s “Sputinik V” COVID-19 vaccine, which is about to enter Phase 2 human trials. The Drug Control General of India (DCGI) gave the company the go-ahead on Oct. 19.
If that isn’t bad enough, in September, the first patient to die due to a ransomware attack occurred in Germany. If you thought that maybe after the first death, ransomware attacks on hospitals would stop, think again. Since then, several hospitals across the United States have been targeted in ransomware attacks. Things have become so bad with regards to ransomware in the healthcare sector, that The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a warning advisory Wednesday night regarding ransomware activity targeting health care facilities. The advisory said: “CISA, FBI, and (the Department of Health and Human Services) have credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers. CISA, FBI, and HHS are sharing this information to provide warning to healthcare providers to ensure that they take timely and reasonable precautions to protect their networks from these threats.”
Just because the world is going through a major health crisis, it doesn’t mean that hackers will stop targeting the healthcare sectors. Hackers are criminals, and for cyber criminals, they find it lucrative to continue targeting these organizations when they are most vulnerable.
Now, more than ever, it is important that healthcare organizations and hospitals put strong cyber security measures in place. It’s not just good business, but it could be the difference between life and death. If you are in the business of healthcare and are unsure if your organization is cyber secure, contact Uzado today. Find out how Uzado can help protect your business from ransomware.
