For the past few days, the ALPHV/BlackCat hacker collective has been using all means to push a hospital whose data it has captured to pay the demanded ransom. Faced with the refusal of the medical profession, the group began to publish confidential information on the patients, in particular their intimate photos.
Hacking into a hospital can be particularly prolific for a hacker. The high level of sensitivity of the stolen data, the damage it can cause to infrastructure, the urgency of the situation for patients — a report recently showed that ransomware has increased the number of deaths in hospitals — everything contributes to exerting strong pressure on the management and, in fact, pushing them to pay the ransom to the pirates.
But things don’t always go as planned for attackers. ALPHV, a notorious group of Russian hackers also calling themselves BlackCat, recently learned about it. Last month, he attacked the hospital in Lehigh Valley, a region located in Pennsylvania, in the United States, demanding a ransom estimated at 1.5 million dollars. Problem: the organization refuses to pay, in accordance with the advice of the authorities in the matter.
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Hackers pressurize hospital by releasing patient data
While the negotiations seem to be bogged down, ALPHV has therefore decided to move up a gear. This Tuesday, March 7, the collective began to publish confidential data recovered during the hack. “Since management has the hypocrisy to claim that patient data is their priority in front of the media, but they refuse to pay us, we will publish more and more data every week”threatens the group on its site.
Among the leaked data, we find in particular naked photos of the patients, but also their medical history and other confidential documents of the hospital. “Our blog is followed by many international media, the case will be widely publicized and will cause significant damage to your business”, continues ALPHV. The administration of the complex did not indicate the progress of the negotiations at this stage.
Source : TheHigh Valley
