Frustrations among staff and families are growing as St. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago grapples with an ongoing network outage caused by a relentless cyber attack. The hospital’s entire computer infrastructure, internet, and phone systems have been offline for a week, rendering care and critical medical information inaccessible.
Prolonged Disruption:
Despite the passing week the cyber attack, which crippled computers, internet, and phones, shows no signs of abating. Some patients have managed to attend scheduled medical appointments, but a significant number are left waiting for updates on when their children can receive the essential care they require.
Expert Insight:
Robin Berthier, Co-Founder of Network Perception, emphasized the vulnerability of modern institutions, stating, “Hospitals and pretty much everything we rely on nowadays depend on computers and servers and cloud services. And those can be disrupted by cyberattacks, which means malware or attackers, cyber adversaries getting into the system and wreaking havoc.”
Impact on Medical Services:
The extensive outage has resulted in the cancellation of elective surgeries and numerous medical procedures. This cyber attack on St. Lurie Children’s Hospital occurred less than two months after a similar incident at the Saint Anthony Hospital in West Chicago.
Attribution:
Lockbit APT has claimed credit for the ongoing disruptions at St. Lurie as well as the previous attack on Saint Anthony. Berthier noted the uniqueness of this attack, emphasizing that it goes beyond targeting traditional corporations or information-technology systems, stating, “The life of people is actually at play.”
Cyber Threat Landscape: LockBit 3.0 Ransomware:
LockBit 3.0 ransomware, also known as LockBit Black, represents an evolution of the notorious LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) family. Originating from BlackMatter and related entities, LockBit 3.0 garnered attention in June 2022 when ransomware operators offered a ‘bug bounty’ to researchers.
