US Government concerned by cyber attacks on Czech hospitals during COVID19 crisis

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed concerns for cyber cyber attacks that have targeted Czech hospitals involved in the fight against the Coronavirus.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed concerns for cyber cyber attacks that recently hit Czech hospitals involved in the fight against the Coronavirus.

“As the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, malicious cyber activity that impairs the ability of hospitals and healthcare systems to deliver critical services could have deadly results. Anyone that engages in such an action should expect consequences.” read the press release published by the U.S. State Department. “We call upon the actor in question to refrain from carrying out disruptive malicious cyber activity against the Czech Republic’s healthcare system or similar infrastructure elsewhere. We also call upon all states not to turn a blind eye to criminal or other organizations carrying out such activity from their territory.”

Malicious cyber attacks pose a serious threat to society because that could impair the ability of hospitals and healthcare organizations during the Coronavirus crisis.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns of severe consequences against operators behind these attacks.

“The United States has zero tolerance for malicious cyber activity designed to undermine U.S. and international partners’ efforts to protect, assist, and inform the public during this global pandemic. Such activity against critical civilian infrastructure is deeply irresponsible and dangerous.” continues the press release. “The United States promotes a framework of responsible state behavior in cyberspace, including nonbinding norms regarding states refraining from cyber activities that intentionally damage critical infrastructure and knowingly allowing their territory to be used for malicious cyber activities.”

At the end of March, several Czech hospitals were hit by cyber attacks, in the middle of March, hackers breached one of the major COVID-19 testing laboratories in Czech, the Brno University Hospital in the city of Brno.

Recently several hospitals in the eastern Czech cities of Olomouc and Ostrava, as well as, several other infrastructures reported attack attempts.

“The situation is quiet now, we have seen individual incidents which have been prevented,” Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtech said on Friday.

“However, we still have to be very cautious.”

The Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency NUKIB on Thursday warned the international allies of cyber attacks which it expected “in the next few days”.

“The Czech Republic warned international allies on Thursday of a imminent wave of disruptive cyberattacks against the country’s hospitals and other parts of its critical infrastructure.” reported the Reuters agency.

“The country’s NUKIB cybersecurity watchdog said the attacks, designed to damage or destroy victims’ computers, were expected in coming days. Two officials with knowledge of the matter said they could begin as soon as Friday.”

NUKIB representatives confirmed that a “preparatory phase” of the attacks was already underway, attackers launched spear-phishing attacks against operators of critical infrastructure in the healthcare industry.

“This is not spray-and-pray COVID malware stuff,” the official said, referring to recent attempts by some cyber criminals to exploit the coronavirus outbreak.

NUKIB did not disclose the possible identity of threat actors behind the attack.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Coronavirus)

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