It is often observed that old malware variants tend to resurface and are re-factored to include new tricks. However, at their core, they are still leveraging tried and true techniques. Years after its heyday, one such malware named Cerber has risen again from a long sleep and recently started targeting the healthcare sector.
Some stats your way
- According to VMware Carbon Black’s new research The State of Healthcare Cybersecurity, the potency of Cerber ransomware has ensured its top position in the list of ransomware plaguing the healthcare sector during 2020.
- The research highlights 239 million attempted cyberattacks targeting the healthcare customers alone in 2020, with 58% of the ransomware attacks accounted for by Cerber.
- The other malware in the list, followed by the Cerber ransomware, includes Sodinokibi (16%), VBCrypt (14%), Cryos (8%), and VBKrypt (4%).
Recent attacks on the healthcare sector
- Conti ransomware targeted UPS employees and Norfolk Southern Railroad and exposed medical records belonging to truck drivers and rail workers.
- Greater Baltimore Medical Center was hit by a ransomware attack that had forced it to take systems offline and reschedule some procedures.
- DoppelPaymer targeted Apex Laboratory Inc. and uploaded its sensitive data online.
Wrapping up
The healthcare sector is an appealing target for threat actors because of the high value of medical records in the underground market. Healthcare facilities, as per experts, must now start coordinating across geographies to engage technical experts to further improve system security and ensure the protection of their data and systems.
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