Officials Warn of Cyberattacks on Hospitals as Virus Cases Spike
Government officials warned that hackers were seeking to hold American hospitals’ data hostage in exchange for ransom payments.
By Nicole Perlroth
Oct. 28, 2020
Hundreds of American hospitals are being targeted in cyberattacks by the same Russian hackers who American officials and researchers fear could sow mayhem around next week’s election.
The attacks on American hospitals, clinics and medical complexes are intended to take those facilities offline and hold their data hostage in exchange for multimillion-dollar ransom payments, just as coronavirus cases spike across the United States.
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The Russian hackers, believed to be based in Moscow and St. Petersburg, have been trading a list of more than 400 hospitals they plan to target, according to Alex Holden, the founder of Hold Security, who shared the information with the F.B.I. Mr. Holden said the hackers claimed to have already infected more than 30 of them.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/us/hospitals-cyberattacks-coronavirus.html?referringSource=articleShare
Microsoft Takes Down a Risk to the Election, and Finds the U.S. Doing the Same
Fearing Russian ransomware attacks on the election, the company and U.S. Cyber Command mounted similar pre-emptive strikes. It is not clear how long they may work.
By David E. Sanger and Nicole Perlroth
* Published Oct. 12, 2020
Updated Oct. 21, 2020
Microsoft and a team of companies and law enforcement groups have disabled — at least temporarily — one of the world’s largest hacking operations, an effort run by Russian-speaking cybercriminals that officials feared could disrupt the presidential election in three weeks.
But as soon as Microsoft began dismantling the operations last week, seeking to cripple a network of infected computers known as TrickBot that has been used to paralyze computer systems with ransomware attacks, it discovered that someone else was trying to do the same thing.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/us/politics/election-hacking-microsoft.html?referringSource=articleShare
More hospitals hit by ransomware as feds warn about cyberattacks
Several federal agencies warned Wednesday of "an increased and imminent cybercrime threat" to the country's health care providers, particularly from a gang that uses a strand of ransomware called Ryuk.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/us/politics/election-hacking-microsoft.html?referringSource=articleShare
Hacker Releases Georgia County Election Data After Ransom Not Paid
County among entities whose ‘time to pay is over,’ according to review of hacker’s website
By Tawnell D. Hobbs
Oct. 28, 2020 6:11 pm ET
A computer hacker who took over networks maintained by Hall County, Ga., escalated demands this week by publicly releasing election-related files after a ransom wasn’t paid, heightening concerns about the security of voting from cyberattacks.
A website maintained by the hacker lists Hall County along with other hacked entities as those whose “time to pay is over,” according to a Wall Street Journal review of the hacker’s website.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/hacker-releases-georgia-county-election-data-after-ransom-not-paid-
FBI warns ransomware assault threatens US healthcare system
Frank Bajak, Ap Technology Writer Updated 2:25 pm PDT, Thursday, October 29, 2020
BOSTON (AP) — Federal agencies warned that cybercriminals are unleashing a wave of data-scrambling extortion attempts against the U.S. healthcare system designed to lock up hospital information systems, which could hurt patient care just as nationwide cases of COVID-19 are spiking.
In a joint alert Wednesday, the FBI and two federal agencies warned that they had “credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers.” The alert said malicious groups are targeting the sector with attacks that produce “data theft and disruption of healthcare services."
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https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/FBIwarns-ransomware-assault-threatens-US-
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