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Fresenius Hit by Ransomware - Comment from an Opentext company Webroot
May 2020 by Kelvin Murray, Senior Threat Research Analyst at Webroot
Fresenius, Europe’s largest private hospital operator and a major provider of dialysis products and services that are in such high demand thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been hit in a ransomware cyber-attack on its technology systems. The company said the incident had limited some of its operations, but that patient care continues.
Realise that the hackers are continue targeting healthcare organisations, would you be interested in hearing Kelvin Murray, Senior Threat Research Analyst at Webroot thoughts on this attack. – Please fee below.
Kelvin Murray, Senior Threat Research Analyst at Webroot: ‘An increase in attacks targeting healthcare organisations suggests that hospitals are definitely one of the top targets for cyber-attacks at the moment. Clearly, COVID-19 is allowing cybercriminals to gain a higher rate of return by targeting healthcare providers because they firmly believe that organisations will pay their way out of an attack when under high-pressure factors.
As the services that medical facilities provide are essential and often cannot be disrupted without severe risk to patients, ransomware is a weapon of choice. While healthcare companies may be prepared for such attacks, it is essential for hospitals to exercise best IT practice during a crisis because staff will be under pressure, potentially outside of their standard working spaces (remote, off-site, travelling) and likely to be dealing with a high volume of inbound messages concerning the outbreak. All healthcare practices must have antivirus and other cybersecurity solutions in place as well as access to security teams who can investigate any breaches to identify and address vulnerabilities. COVID-19 will not stop hackers, but now is a good time for all organisations to review their incident plans and to update them as needed.’
