Hackers are using AI to accelerate attacks on hospital virtual private networks, reviving a tactic first deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Exploiting VPNs, Russia-based Qilin has emerged as one of the most active ransomware operators targeting healthcare organizations. The group has racked up 168 confirmed healthcare-sector victims through June, trailing only manufacturing and business services in overall victim count, according to threat-intelligence firm Cyble.
AI has let attackers craft more convincing phishing emails, scan networks for vulnerabilities in minutes and run credential-stuffing campaigns at scale, the Journal reported. Ram Varadarajan, CEO of cybersecurity firm Acalvio, told the publication the shift means it’s now “cheaper to walk through the front door than to storm the walls.”
About a third of U.S. workers still split time between home and office, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, keeping VPNs a persistent gateway into hospital networks.
For hospital and health system IT leaders, the finding sharpens an existing risk: VPN-targeted intrusions already rank among the most common entry points for ransomware groups striking patient care organizations, and AI is compressing the time attackers need to exploit them.
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