Last Friday’s (May 12) ransomware attack is potentially targeting core systems used by multiple hospitals, said an industry expert.

Rick Holland, vice president, Strategy at cyber security leader Digital Shadows, was referring to the attack on organisations including FedEx and Telefónica, as well as the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), where operations were cancelled, X-rays, test results and patient records became unavailable and phones did not work.

“Unfortunately the ransomware ‘business model’ is very profitable for cyber criminals and we’ve seen multiple reports of organisations paying out in the past,” he said.

“Keeping up-to-date with ransomware is not easy, there are many variants. Many do get shut down and their encryption cracked, only for another version to spring up – therefore it’s a constant game of constant cat and mouse. Those within the NHS will now be looking to contain the threat. We can only hope that adequate back up measures have been put in place so that vital data can be restored and systems cleaned. Most ransomware locks data rather than steals it – if that is the case here then the threat can be somewhat contained,” Holland concluded. – TradeArabia News Service