Officials Warn of Imminent Cybercrime Threat to Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities

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Officials from the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security held an emergency conference call with healthcare industry executives to warn them about “imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers” from Eastern European cybercriminals who are targeting dozens of U.S. hospitals with ransomware. Shortly thereafter, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, and Health and Human Services issued an official warning of threat, citing Trickbot and Ryuk malware as the culprits. Hospitals in California, Oregon, and New York have been crippled by ransomware at precisely the same time that COVID-19 admissions are taxing their infrastructures to the breaking point.

Information security journalist Brian Krebs had received a tip from Hold Security that the Russian-speaking Ryuk Group discussed plans to deploy ransomware at more than 400 healthcare facilities in the U.S.

Related: Krebs on Security, Search Security, CNN.com, Threatpost, Reuters, …