News Insights: German hospital hacked, patient taken to another city dies
German hospital hacked, patient taken to another city dies
German authorities say a hacker attack caused the failure of IT systems at a major hospital in Duesseldorf, and a woman who needed urgent admission died after she had to be taken to another city for treatment
News Insights:
Tim Erlin, VP, product management and strategy at Tripwire, said, “When cyberattacks impact critical systems, there can be real world consequences. We’re not used to thinking of cyberattacks in terms of life and death, but that was the case here. Delays in treatment, regardless of the cause, can be life threatening. Ransomware doesn’t just suddenly appear on systems. It has to get there through exploited vulnerabilities, phishing, or other means. While we tend to focus on the ransomware itself, the best way to avoid becoming a victim is to prevent the infection in the first place. And the best way to prevent ransomware infections is to address the infection vectors by patching vulnerabilities, ensuring systems are configured securely, and preventing phishing.”
Hugh Taylor
Hugh Taylor is a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). In addition to editing Journal of Cyber Policy, he writes about cybersecurity, compliance and enterprise technology for such clients as Microsoft, IBM, SAP, HPE, Oracle, Google and Advanced Micro Devices. Prior to launching his freelance writing career, he served in executive roles at Microsoft, IBM and several venture-backed technology startups.