FBI warns ransomware assault threatens US healthcare system

BOSTON: Federal agencies warned that cybercriminals are unleashing a wave of data-scrambling extortion attempts against the United States healthcare system designed to lock up hospital information systems, which could hurt patient care just as nationwide cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) are spiking.

In a joint alert Wednesday, the FBI and two federal agencies warned that they had “credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to US hospitals and healthcare providers.” The alert said malicious groups are targeting the sector with attacks that produce “data theft and disruption of healthcare services."