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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
A rash of ransomware attacks this week targeted hospitals in the U.S. and Australia. The cyberattacks froze the computer systems of several medical facilities, to the point where they needed to turn away new patients and even cancel surgery appointments.
A ransomware attack, reported on Tuesday, impacts the DCH Health System, a regional hospital and medical complex located in Alabama, and left three satellite hospitals turning away patients. A separate attack disclosed on Monday impacted several regional hospitals in Victoria, Australia. There is no indication that the ransomware attacks are connected.
The DCH Health System, which announced it was hit by ransomware on Tuesday, is a government subdivision that operates a community-owned healthcare system in Alabama, consisting of DCH Regional Medical Center, Northport Medical Center and Fayette Medical Center. These facilities are owned by the public, and the system is operated on behalf of the public by the DCH Health System board of directors.
The three regional hospitals, located in Tuscaloosa, Fayette and Northport, are "closed to all but the most critical new patients," according to a Tuesday release. The release said that cybercriminals are limiting the hospitals' abilities to use their computer systems in exchange for an "as-yet unknown payment."
"Our hospitals have implemented our emergency procedures to ensure safe and efficient operations in the event technology dependent on computers is not available," according to the release. "That said, we feel it is in the best interest of patient safety that DCH Regional Medical Center, Northport Medical Center and Fayette Medical Center are closed to all but the most critical new patients. Our staff is caring for the patients who are currently in the hospital, and we have no plans to transfer current patients."
The hospitals said that local ambulances have been instructed to take patients to other hospitals if at all possible. Patients who come to their emergency departments may be transferred to another hospital when they are stabilized, representatives stated.
No further information is currently available. Threatpost has reached out to DCH about how and when the attack started and which specific operations are impacted.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 02 2019, @03:11PM (3 children)
Shoot the messenger. Didn't Iran shoot the idiots who carried the viruses in to wreck their centrifuges? If not, they should have.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday October 02 2019, @03:31PM (2 children)
Did Iran know who the individuals are? Where they "idiots" who were duped, or were they spies?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 02 2019, @03:39PM
I don't think any of those questions matter to the Ayatollah. Ayatollah not to bring your USB keys filled with viruses into the laboratories, but you did it anyway. Now, all of you die!!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday October 02 2019, @03:48PM
Wikipedia's article now carries a couple of references (Jerusalem Post, Yahoo! News) to the idea that it may have been a mole under the control of Dutch intelligence that was responsible for the plant, or at least provided intelligence about how the Iranian program must work if it was based off of A.Q. Khan's work. Prior to this I remember the story was something like it was the workers or contractors themselves who delivered the payload via USB, likely with a bootlegged system update because they couldn't get the legitimate updates from Siemens (because they weren't licensed installations).
This sig for rent.