In Brief: Czech Republic’s second-largest hospital in Brno has suffered a cyber attack. The same hospital is currently home to the country’s Coronavirus Testing Facility – On the other hand, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the United States has also suffered Coronavirus related cyber attack.
Who could have imagined cyber criminals will use Coronavirus pandemic to steal data and make quick money? A couple of days ago HackRead.com exclusively reported how a website was tricking unsuspecting users into downloading a Coronavirus tracking app on their Android phones which in reality was CovidLock ransomware.
Now, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the United States has suffered a massive cyberattack on Sunday, authorities have revealed. It is being reported that the attack was to halt Coronavirus response in the country.
According to reports, it is unclear what type of cyber attack hit HHS, sources have revealed that “the attempt was to slow down operations.” Apparently, the attack aimed at flooding HHS servers with millions of requests over the course of several hours – Simply put: it can be a DDoS attack.
This article will be updated upon receiving more information on the incident.
Czech Republic’s Main Coronavirus Testing Facility targeted with Cyberattack (possibly ransomware)
Amidst all the tumult caused by coronavirus outbreak around the world, where normal people are trying every possible thing to protect themselves and their loved ones, cybercriminals are busy launching attacks against healthcare facilities where patients are being treated.
According to reports, the second largest hospital in Brno, a city located in South Moravian, Czech Republic, has become the victim of a cyberattack, causing it to abruptly cancel all of its planned operations, and shift patients to other medical facilities.
The attack occurred on Friday at around 2:00 a.m. (local time) in the morning and the computers at the hospital were shut down after the attack.
The nature of the attack is yet unclear but it is suspected that the attack could involve ransomware. There is little information shared by the news outlets in the country. It is, however, reported by the Czech News Agency (ČTK) that the hospital’s computer systems started malfunctioning slowly, due to which they were all shut down.
Quoting the hospital’s director Jaroslav Štěrba, the news agency further reported that the systems that hosted other laboratories including microbiology, hematology, biochemistry, radiology, and tumor diagnosis were on another network, which is why these weren’t unaffected by the attack and are operating normally.
The hospital can function and patients are being inspected but medical data collection is being carried out manually since the lab systems aren’t working. Staff members are documenting the data in writing, which has made the examination a time-consuming process.
The country’s main cybersecurity agency the National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NÚKIB) and the National Organized Crime Center have been roped in to investigate the cause of the attack and resolve the problem. Unfortunately, the hospital has been attacked at a time when there is a health emergency declared in the country.
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