Cyberattackers are speeding up their ransomware strategies and launching malware more quickly within the IT networks of healthcare providers and other organizations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Wall Street Journal.
While attackers typically take more time to rummage through an organization's data before inflicting malware, they are seizing the opportunity that has arisen with healthcare providers, who need data back right away during the pandemic to continue operations and treating patients.
"Especially if the target is a hospital, government institution or a company operating online more than before because of the COVID-19 situation, they know they have a good way to extort the company," said Fernando Ruiz Pérez, who oversees Europol's Cybercrime Center, according to the report. "They don't even need to exfiltrate the data. They don't need to wait."
Europol cybercrime experts have received alerts from police officials in several European countries about the new nature of the ransomware attacks. In the U.S., healthcare providers have reported an increase in attempted ransomware attacks during the pandemic but no growth in successful attacks, Errol Weiss, chief security officer of the Healthcare Information Sharing and Analysis Center, told the Journal.