FBI warns ransomware assault threatens U.S. health care system

HHS, FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint alert to warn U.S. hospitals and health care providers about “an increased and imminent cybercrime threat.” The alert said cybercriminals seek to conduct “data theft and disruption of health care services” through ransomware, which makes data unusable unless the targeted entity makes a payment. Hospitals may protect themselves by implementing extra precautions or widening their efforts to obstruct the systems cybercriminals use to launch such attacks. Security experts say the ransomware, dubbed Ryuk, has already affected at least five U.S. hospitals this week. So far in 2020, a total of 59 U.S. health care providers or systems have been affected by ransomware, disrupting patient care at up to 510 facilities, according to Brett Callow, an analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft.