- A ransomware -attack targeted a health organization in UK
- The disruption to patient care contributed tragically to a patient death
- Criminals are targeted at critical services as they are likely to pay ransom
Ransomware -attacks are devastating to the victims, but this has now reached a new and tragic level, with the National Health Service of the UK (NHS) confirming that an attack on London hospitals in 2024, which forced ambulances to be redirected and disturbed blood testing, has contributed to a patient’s death.
This attack targeted Synnovis, a London-based pathology service and cyber criminal group Qilin caused serious disorders of the blood test services, and the delay in a blood test was a ‘contributing factor’ to a patient’s death.
About 800 operations and 700 outpatient agreements were canceled or re -planned due to the attack, and personal information such as names, birth dates, NHS numbers and even blood test data are suspected of being compromised and published in the incident.
Tragic consequences
Cyber criminals are targeted at critical infrastructure such as hospitals because they are likely to pay ransom to get services started with minimal disorders to protect patients, but this obviously requires a level of disorder, no matter what.
“Unfortunately, a patient died unexpectedly during the cyber attack,” confirmed King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
“As is the standard practice when this happens, we conducted a detailed review of their care. The study of patient safety identified a number of contributing factors that led to the patient’s death. This included a long wait for a blood test result due to the cyber attack that affected pathology services at the time.
It is said that Qilin, Ransomware -Band, demanded $ 50 million from Synnovis in return for the stolen data, but reports suggest that Synnovis either refused or could not pay the ransom and the data was then published online.
This is in accordance with the government’s ban on ransomware payment for public organizations aimed at deterring ransomware gangs from targeting public services.
Via The post
