Federal agencies warned that cybercriminals
are unleashing a wave of data-scrambling
extortion attempts against the U.S. healthcare
system designed to lock up hospital information
systems, which could hurt patient care just as
nationwide cases of 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 U.S. hospitals and
healthcare providers.” The alert said malicious
groups are targeting the sector with attacks
that produce “data theft and disruption of
healthcare services.”