Interpol: “the number of ransomware attacks on hospital computer systems has increased”

Interpol warns that cybercriminals have stepped up their efforts to distributeransomware viruses in hospital information systems in order to obtain large ransoms in cryptocurrency.

The International Criminal Police Organization said it has identified a significant increase in attempted ransomware attacks against key organizations involved in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Ransomware viruses are a kind ofmalware that encrypts files on victims' devices. Then the criminals demand a ransom, usually in cryptocurrencies, in exchange for a key to unlock the system. Interpol sent a warning to 194 member countries, in which it announced an increase in the number of such attacks, bringing criminals more than $ 1 billion a year.

“Since hospitals and medical organizations arethey are constantly fighting the coronavirus around the world, they have become a target for ruthless cybercriminals who seek to profit from sick patients, ”said the organization’s general secretary, Jürgen Stock. "Locking down data from hospitals and their critical systems will slow down the medical response that is so important in these difficult times, and this can lead to the death of patients."

Ransomware seems to be spreadingthrough emails that falsely claim to contain information from government agencies. As soon as the user clicks on the link, the virus looks for software vulnerabilities for replication throughout the network and infection of other vulnerable computers. Then the virus encrypts the files and informs the user that he must pay a ransom to unlock them.

Let us recall that, as Europol reported in the falllast year, ransomware viruses remain the most popular type of cyberattack. In addition, ransomware scammers have obtained a total of $144 million in BTC from their victims over a six-year period, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation research.

In October, online operations in the Spanish cityJerez de la Frontera were suspended as a result of an attack by hackers who demanded a ransom in BTC to unlock the city's computer systems. In June last year, the authorities of the American city of Lake City paid a ransom of 42 BTC to extortionists, and a little earlier the administration of the city of Riviera Beach paid 65 BTC to unknown hackers who managed to take control of the city’s computer system.

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