Cyberattacks another type of pandemic

At lunchtime on Oct. 28, Colleen Cargill was in the cancer center at the University of Vermont Medical Center, preparing patients for their chemotherapy infusions. A new patient will sometimes be teary and frightened, but the nurses try to make it welcoming, offering trail mix and a warm blanket, a seat with a view of a garden.

That day, though, Cargill did a double take. When she tried to log in to her workstation, it booted her out. Then it happened again. She turned to the system of pneumatic tubes used to transport lab work. What she saw there was a red caution symbol, a circle with a cross. She walked to the backup computer. It was down, too.

Cyberattacks on America’s health systems have become their own kind of pandemic over the past year as Russian cybercriminals have shut down clinical trials and treatment studies for the coronavirus vaccine and cut off hospitals’ access to patient records, demanding multimilliondollar ransoms for their return.

The attacks have largely unfolded in private as hospitals scramble to restore their systems — or to quietly pay the ransom — without releasing information that could compromise an FBI investigation.

The latest wave of attacks, which hit about a dozen U.S. hospitals, was believed to have been conducted by a particularly powerful group of Russianspeaking hackers that deployed ransomware via TrickBot, a vast network of infected computers used for cyberattacks, according to security researchers who are tracking the attacks.

The hackers typically work for profit. The FBI estimated that the cybercriminals, who use ransomware called “Ryuk,” took in more than $61 million in ransom over a period of 21 months in 2018 and 2019, a record.

The FBI said it will not comment on the attacks, citing ongoing investigations.