Britain's Biggest Hospital Held To Ransom

Uploaded on 2023-07-15 in FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-Health & Welfare, TECHNOLOGY--Hackers

Britain's public sector has been confronted with a wave of ransomware attacks in recent months and now a notorious Russian cyber criminal gang known as ALPHV, or BlackCat, has announced that it successfully infiltrated one of the UK’s largest hospital groups, threatening to expose a vast collection of confidential data.

The AlphV gang, also known as BlackCat, says it has stolen 70 terabytes of sensitive data in what it claims is the biggest breach of healthcare data in the UK.

Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs five London-based hospitals, was recently added to the Dark Web leak site of the ALPHV ransomware gang. Currently, it remains unclear whether the gang resorted to their ransomware tactics on the computers within the London hospitals, namely St. Bartholomew’s, the Royal London, Mile End, Whipps Cross, and Newham.

British cyber security agencies are investigating the attack, which has led to the exposure of private and confidential information. Staff at one of the UK's largest hospital groups have spent a nervous week wondering if private data, stolen from their employer's IT systems by a ransomware gang, is going to be posted online after a deadline to prevent publication passed.

Some personally identifiable information belonging to workers has already been leaked by the ransomware gang on its website as proof of the intrusion and exfiltration, including people's financial details, CVs, and copies of passports and driving licenses. It's not clear if or how much patient or medical data is involved.

Between 2022-2023 global healthcare sector experienced:

Over 271 million intrusion attacks
Over 11 million ransomware attempts (an 8% increase)
A 35% increase in encrypted threats
A 33% increase in IOT Malware

In comment SonicWall expert Spencer Starkey said "The healthcare sector continues to be a prime target for malicious actors as evidenced by the recent attack on Barts Health NHS Trust. Not only does this attack risk the potential for exposed patient data, but any significant IT issue that halts patient care poses an immediate threat to life"

“The ramifications of an attack on the healthcare sector can be disastrous and it's important to place the utmost amount of time, money and efforts on securing them."

The Register: Bloomberg: Techcrunch: Times of India: SlashDot: Insurance Business: GRIDINSOFT:

You Might Also Read:

Hackers Have Already Cost Medibank $26m:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

If you like this website and use the comprehensive 6,500-plus service supplier Directory, you can get unrestricted access, including the exclusive in-depth Directors Report series, by signing up for a Premium Subscription.