Hospital ransom demanders doing real damage—and just getting warmed up
The spree of hostage-takings at hospitals, in which hackers plant ransomware and then demand payoffs for the release of affected computers, may be growing fast and hurting the victim hospitals more than some of them have let on.
The website Motherboard has done some noteworthy legwork on the development, reporting March 31 that the damage done to many of these hospitals has been debilitating.
“Doctors pushed high-risk surgeries to later dates, records had to be faxed or hand-delivered, and written notes then had to be entered back into computers once everything was up and running again,” writes reporter Joseph Cox. “Even if certain systems weren’t infected with malware, some hospitals still pulled the plug as a precaution, seriously affecting productivity.”
Cox describes an especially sneaky weapon called Samsam, writing that it is “spreading like wildfire” and requires no human action to attack, as it travels not through email or ad links but goes directly after servers.
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Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.