One of the most important developments in privacy, both for private individuals and businesses, has been the Virtual Private Network or VPN. VPNs are simple, elegant privacy solutions that make the internet safer for their users by making it harder for hackers and cybercriminals to compromise their systems and providing [...]
A woman in need of urgent care died after a Dusseldorf hospital’s computer systems were hacked, preventing the patient from receiving the treatment she needed, and marking a rare case in which ransomware has led to death.
The ransomware attack that exploited a vulnerability in a “widely used commercial add-on software” caused Duesseldorf University Clinic’s IT systems to crash, the hospital said. As a result, the medical facility wasn’t able to access data, and emergency patients were rerouted to other hospitals. The hack also forced the hospital to postpone operations.
Tragically, one death has been attributed to the cyber attack, after a woman in need of emergency care had to be rushed to another city for treatment. The patient was transported 32 kilometers (20 miles) to a hospital in Wuppertal, with doctors saying that the delay was fatal. A homicide investigation has been opened in connection with the incident and the hospital says it will take time before it can resume normal operations.
The hackers were able to encrypt 30 servers at the hospital, essentially holding the facility’s data hostage. According to the Dusseldorf hospital, the ransomware – which is usually used to extort money – came with “no concrete demand,” but instead provided instructions on how to contact the hackers. The note was left at Heinrich Heine University, which is affiliated with the hospital.
Also on rt.com
Norway’s parliament comes under ‘significant’ cyberattack, emails of several MPs hacked
German investigators contacted the hackers and explained that they had targeted the hospital, and not the university, endangering the lives of patients. The perpetrators then provided a digital key to decrypt the data. The hackers then broke off communication and law enforcement haven’t been able to track them down.
The hospital said that its systems were being gradually restored and that it doesn’t believe that any of the affected data will be irretrievably lost.
The Maze ransomware operators now use a virtual machine to encrypt a computer, a tactic previously adopted by the Ragnar Locker malware. The Maze ransomware operators have adopted a new ...
Ad-light, Malware-heavy Since December 17, Forbes has been running an experiment wherein some fraction of visitors who are running ad blockers are blocked from accessing Forbes articles until they disable their ad blocker. In exchange, Forbes promises an “ad-light experience”: A Forbes article published yesterday claims that this interstitial resulted in 42.4% of visitors turning ...
