Cyber criminals threaten to hold hospitals to ransom – Interpol
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As hospitals around the world struggle to handle the influx of COVID-19 patients, cyber criminals are threatening to exploit the crisis and hold them to ransom, according to an Interpol warning.
The agency has issued a global alert to healthcare organisations about ransomware attacks, in which criminals lock organisations out of their own computer systems until a ransom is paid.
It follows a rare warning from one of the UK’s intelligence agencies about criminals using the coronavirus outbreak to launch online attacks.
This week NHS Digital issued guidance for healthcare providers warning about malicious COVID-19 related cyber activity.
It advised them on how to spot potential attempts by hackers to dupe staff into following links to malicious websites, or open attachments which would allow the criminals into their computer systems.
Interpol’s cybercrime threat response team said it has detected a “significant increase” in these kinds of attacks, noting a rise in the number of attempted ransomware attacks against key organisations around the world.
It has alerted all 194 of its member countries and is working with the cybersecurity industry to gather information about the attacks as well as assisting national police forces.
