Indian vaccine makers, healthcare institutions targeted by cyber attackers: Report

The healthcare space including vaccine makers and hospitals have continued to be prime targets for cyber attackers. More than 7 million attacks were recorded between October 1 and November 25 on the Healthcare sector-based Threat Intelligence Sensors network specifically simulated in India, according to research by CyberPeace Foundation.

Researchers also pointed out a few trends in these continued cyberattacks. For instance, vulnerable exposed systems that were not monitored and faced the internet were among the most attacked system for the attackers. It further pointed out that the vulnerable internet-facing systems with remote desktop protocol enabled and old Windows server platform were among the most attacked.

According to researchers, the healthcare sector began to suffer several ransomware attacks during the Covid-19 crisis. Cyber attackers targeted medical manufacturing sector, billing system etc through ransomware. The most common ransomware that has been seen during this COVID-19 situation is ‘NetWalker ransomware’, ‘PonyFinal ransomware’, ‘Maze ransomware’ etc, researchers added.

Also Read: FBI warns ransomware assault threatens US healthcare system

“The Research Wing at CyberPeace Foundation has noticed a spike in Cyberattacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. In October total 5434825 and in November (till now) a total 1643169 number of cyber-attack events have been identified on our simulated Healthcare sector-based Threat Intelligence Sensors network,” said researchers in a report.

The new CyberPeace report comes days after Microsoft said it had detected cyberattacks from at least three nation-state actors that were targeting seven major companies involved in the research for Covid-19 vaccines and treatment. The targets include pharma companies from Canada, France, India, South Korea, and the US.

The cyberattacks came from Strontium, an actor based in Russia, and two actors from North Korea that Microsoft calls Zinc and Cerium, Microsoft added.