The Red Cross and other organizations are calling on governments to form an alliance to stop cyberattacks on hospitals.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, former world leaders and security experts recently signed an open letter, which stresses that immediate action must be taken to stop cyberattacks on hospitals and organizations healthcare in general and during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The situation in many countries has improved, but there are still many patients and hospitals must be able to respond to people's needs.
The joint statement was published by the CyberPeace Institute, an international non-profit organization that aims to strengthen stability in cyberspace. The letter has over 40 signatures (seven of them are Nobel laureates).
"We call on governments around the world to take immediate and decisive action to stop all cyberattacks on hospitals, healthcare and research facilities, as well as on medical personnel and international public health," the statement said.
Hospitals around the world are in a critical situation due to COVID-19 , and cybercriminals are trying to exploit this. For example, there have been many ransomware attacks that shut down critical infrastructure in hospitals to extort ransom. However, this can cost many lives.
“We are in the midst of the most urgent health crisis in modern history, and these attacks threaten all of humanity,” said Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"We must take action collectively to ensure we address this threat."
He also stressed that in many countries, systems are “fragile” and that many of them are affected by war and violence. These countries and their hospitals are not able to cope with hacking attacks.
The letter calls on governments to collaborate with civil society and the private sector and work towards international rules that prohibit cyberattacks on hospitals and healthcare organizations.
"We do not tolerate attacks on health infrastructure in the physical world and we should not tolerate such attacks in the digital world either.".
The Red Cross strongly supports the need to protect medical services and facilities from all kinds of cyber attacks, the letter states.
The letter has also been signed by important figures in the technology and cybersecurity sector, such as Microsoft President Brad Smith, Trend Micro CEO Eva Chen, and Kaspersky CEO Eugene Kaspersky.
Security experts have observed many hacking attacks throughout this time and believe that many more will take place.
Hospitals must be adequately protected and use up-to-date systems to remain safe. On the other hand, the perpetrators of the attacks must be severely punished.
