Microsoft Warns: Hospitals Could Become BTC Ransomware Target

Microsoft warns that many hospitals in the United States could become a target of bitcoin ransomware attacks during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as we are reading further in the Bitcoin news below.

The major software company said that many hospitals are still using vulnerable gateways which make them an easy target for the REvil ransomware which is scanning the internet for these types of flaws since the REvil ransomware distributors managed to gain $287,000 in just three days from launching the ransomware attacks. Microsoft warns that the hospitals on the lists appear at risk as per the company’s blog and its threat protection intelligence team that explained how these healthcare organizations are susceptible during the Coronavirus crisis. The blog post says that the company identified multiple hospitals that are under threat and provided advice on how to act if something like this happens.

Microsoft stated this was a ‘’first of its kind targeted notification’’ and the establishments should now their weak spots especially now since the hackers are swamping the web. We have already seen many cyber threats during the COVID-19 crisis in social engineering methods. Many unfortunate victims downloaded apps that claimed to provide relevant information about the virus and to also steal personal data in the meantime. Microsoft pointed out the evidence of dangerous and sophisticated threats that are lurking and can  make a huge mess in their hour of need as a spokesperson of Microsoft explained:

‘’We’re seeing not just a rise in COVID-themed typical phishing/malware lure emails, but an uptick in the attempted compromise of legitimate services, such as healthcare and technology providers. Attackers are masquerading as these trusted entities using their services as a relay to get to users. We have seen attackers with many motivations utilize these human-operated ransomware style vulnerabilities, including to target hospitals.’’

If action is taken at the right time, these types of attacks are preventable and the hospitals have to ensure to patch their VPN vulnerabilities so there are no victims falling to both software hacking and COVID-19 ransomware:

‘’We recommend to hospitals that they prioritize patching any open VPN and gateway vulnerabilities, as attackers are actively taking advantage of them as people work and access information remotely.’’