Data extortion attempts signal new era for ransomware tactics
Healthcare IT News
Mike Miliard
Ransomware has become a fact of life for healthcare organizations over the past half decade or so, but bad actors' techniques continue to evolve in dangerous new directions – with more and more organizations being targeted not just with encryption but with data extortion attempts.
WHY IT MATTERS
That's according to a report from Crowdstrike, which counted 97 healthcare organizations victimized by ransomware attacks using extortion in 2020. Healthcare is the 5th most targeted sector for extortion attempts worldwide, according to the cybersecurity firm.
"This is up 580% compared to pre-pandemic times (Q1 2020), despite Despite Big Game Hunters – threat actors who target bigger, more secure targets for larger ransoms – such as TWISTED SPIDER claiming they would refrain from infecting medical organizations until the pandemic had stabilized," according to Crowdstrike.
Instead, however, researchers note...