Man pleads guilty to crippling UVM Medical Center cyberattack

A ransomware attack against Burlington,Vt.-based UVM Health Network in 2020 cost the system millions and disrupted patient care at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vyacheslav Penchukov, a Ukrainian national, pleaded guilty to leading the attack.

Mr. Penchukov led a conspiracy to spread malware to collect and transmit personal data from organizations from 2018 to 2021, and one of the victims was the University of Vermont Medical Center, according to a Feb. 15 news release from the Justice Department.

The University of Vermont Medical Center lost more than $30 million in the wake of the attack and spent millions more in recovery. The health system said the attack cost it $65 million. The hospital lost access to IT systems, phone systems, imaging and other capabilities during the attack and was unable to provide "critical patient services" for more than two weeks, according to the report. Its EHR was down for nearly a month.

Mr. Penchukov was arrested in 2022 in Switzerland and extradited to the U.S. last year. He faces up to 20 years in prison, according to The New York Times.

 

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