The hackers behind the Ryuk Ransomware continue to target hospitals, even during this critical period, when most of them are overwhelmed with patients due to the coronavirus.
Last week, some ransomware gangs reported their plans regarding attacks on hospitals and other healthcare organizations.
Some gangs, such as the hackers behind Maze and those behind the DoppelPaymer ransomware, have said that they do not intend to target hospitals during this difficult time and that they are generally not their primary target.
Doctors and employees should be dedicated to treating patients and not have hacking and ransomware attacks on their minds.
The Maze ransomware hackers had recently released some data they had stolen from a drug testing company. However, this was before the announcement that they were ceasing their attacks on hospitals.
Ryuk ransomware operators continue to target hospitals
According to a security researcher, Ryuk ransomware continues to target hospitals, even during this critical period, when there are thousands of patients in them trying to stay alive.
For example, just yesterday, Sophos ' PeterM tweeted that a US healthcare provider was attacked by Ryuk ransomware .
When asked if there was any information about the breach, he stated that it looked like any other Ryuk attack.
"It looks like a typical Ryuk ransomware attack at the moment. They installed it using PsExec," said PeterM.
Vitali Kremez, head of research at SentinelOne, said that over the past month, Ryuk ransomware has targeted more than 10 healthcare organizations. Of those targets, two were “independent” hospitals and one was a healthcare network of 9 hospitals in the US.
“Not only have they not stopped attacking healthcare organizations, but we have actually seen an increased trend of exploiting these organizations during the global pandemic. While some criminal groups have said they will stop targeting healthcare, the Ryuk ransomware operators are still attacking, despite experts’ pleas not to do so,” Kremez said.
According to the data, one of the hospitals that has been attacked is located in an area that has many coronavirus victims
Hospitals at this time (especially) should not be targeted by hackers. It is not a simple matter. This is not a data theft. The attack by Ryuk ransomware or any other ransomware can cost patients' lives (if the ransomware affects the functioning of medical machines).
Even ransomware gangs need to allow doctors to focus on their patients right now. No one is immune. The hackers and their loved ones can also be at risk.
