Ride the Lightning

The First Death Linked to a Ransomware Attack on a Hospital?

September 21, 2020

I added the question mark in the post title because those who have written about the story have been careful with their wording. The Verge posted on September 17 that a woman in Germany died during a ransomware attack on the Duesseldorf University Hospital, in what may be the first death directly linked to a cyberattack on a hospital. The hospital couldn't accept emergency patients because of the attack, and the woman was sent to a health care facility approximately 20 miles away, dying from an aneurysm that needed immediate treatment.

The cyberattack was not intended for the hospital, according to a report from the German news outlet RTL. The ransom note was addressed to a nearby university. The attackers stopped the attack after authorities advised them it had shut down a hospital.

Health care facilities are a big target for cyberattacks, and most hospitals aren't prepared. They rely on devices, like radiology equipment, that are often connected to the internet. The tools are necessary to treat patients.

Attacks that target patient data rather than medical devices can still be damaging. One study found that a hospital's death rate from heart attacks goes up in the years after a data breach, probably because hospitals have to divert resources to respond to the attack or upgrade software in a way that changes how doctors operate.

German authorities are still investigating this woman's death. If her diversion to another hospital is found to be responsible for her death, police may treat the cyberattack as a homicide.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225|Fairfax, VA 22030
Email: Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
https://senseient.com
https://twitter.com/sharonnelsonesq
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharondnelson
https://amazon.com/author/sharonnelson