Interpol: "extortion virus attacks on hospital computer systems have increased."

   Interpol warns that cybercriminals have stepped up their efforts to spread extortion viruses to hospital information systems in order to obtain large ransoms in cryptographic software.

The International Criminal Police Organization has identified a significant increase in attempted attacks by extortion viruses on key organizations involved in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Extortion viruses are a type of malware that encrypts files on victims' devices. The criminals then demand a ransom, usually in cryptographic software, in exchange for a key to unlock the system. Interpol issued a warning to 194 member countries, announcing an increase in such attacks, bringing criminals more than $1 billion a year.

"As hospitals and medical organizations around the world are continuously fighting the coronavirus, they have become a target for ruthless cybercriminals who seek to profit from sick patients," said Jürgen Stock, the organization's secretary-general. "Blocking these hospitals and their critical systems will reduce the speed of medical response, which is so important in these difficult times and can lead to patient deaths.

Extortion viruses appear to be spreading through emails that falsely claim to contain information from government agencies. Once a user clicks a link, the virus looks for software vulnerabilities to replicate across the network and infect other vulnerable computers. The virus then encrypts the files and informs the user that they must pay a ransom to unlock them.

Recall that, according to Europol last autumn, extortion viruses remain the most popular type of cyber attack. In addition, according to a study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, fraudsters with the help of extortion programs received a total of $144 million from their victims in BTC for six years.

In October, online operations in the Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera were suspended as a result of an attack by hackers who demanded a ransom from BTC for unlocking the city's computer systems. In June last year, the authorities of the American city of Lake City paid a ransom ransom of 42 BTC to extortionists, and a little earlier the administration of Riviera Beach paid 65 BTC to unknown hackers who managed to take control of the city's computer system.