Patient dies because hospital was attacked by ransomware

A ransomware attack caused the death of a patient! As we have been reporting, cyber attacks have increased significantly. Although the world is battling a COVID-19 pandemic, cybercriminals are still very active and wreaking havoc.

According to recent information, a patient eventually died as a result of a ransomware attack. Know what happened.

What is a ransomware attack?
Ransomware is a relatively new type of threat.  Despite the fact that the first example of this malware dates from the late 1980s, it was necessary to wait until 2013 to have a complete example of what this new type of threat is capable of.  It was this year that Cryptolocker appeared.  A ransomware has the following modus operandi ...

The malware runs on the host computer, in the background, without initially affecting the machine's operation;
The data files of the computer and / or any disk connected to it, are encrypted in the background, becoming unreadable, using public key encryption;
After encrypting a significant amount of data files, or all of them!  - a message is shown to the user indicating what is happening and demanding (this is the ransom / ransom part itself) the payment of an amount, through Bitcoin or other similar non-traceable cryptocurrency, to decrypt the files by providing the key - Get more information here.


Patient dies in Germany because he had to go to another hospital
The case occurred in Germany and even resulted in the death of a patient.  A woman is reportedly unable to receive care in a hospital (Düsseldorf University Hospital) because she has been targeted by a ransomware attack.  The attack took place on September 10, exploiting a vulnerability in Citrix virtualization systems.
In this sense, the victim, in serious condition, had to be transferred to another hospital 32 km away.  Assistance to the victim was carried out after an hour and she died.
Still, according to the information, the attack appears to have "hit" the wrong target.  The authorities were able to contact those responsible for the attack, passing on information that they were attacking a hospital and not the university (which was the target).  The group even put an end to the attack and even provided the decryption key.