Killnet has listed nearly 50 healthcare providers in the US on its target list. Placed alphabetically, the hospitals belonged to 50 states of America, including Alaska, California, Florida, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
In a tweet, CyberKnow shared pictures of the alleged victims that Killnet targeted.
(Image: CyberKnow)
Owing to the rising cyberattacks on the healthcare sector, the American Hospital Association (AHA) published a report sharing details about the targets of the Killnet group and the progress made in curbing its activities.
The group is known to launch DDoS attacks and more to slow down servers and disrupts critical services in healthcare systems.
Killnet arrests, threats and Ukraine
The hacktivist group has been attacking NATO countries and those supporting Ukraine in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Arrests have also been made which has led to retaliatory actions by the Killnet gang.
A senior member of the Killnet named Killmilk had threatened the U.S. Congress to sell the personal data of the American people because of the Ukraine policy by the Congress. President Biden had proposed over $44 billion in aid for Ukraine.
The arrest of a Killnet member last year in May led the gang to demand his release. They threatened to launch cyberattacks in British hospitals and the UK Ministry of Health.
The 2022 report about cyberattacks on healthcare
The 2022 data breach statistics on healthcare highlighted that the year was the second worst for the number of data breaches. The HIPAA Journal noted a rise in cyberattacks from 18 cyberattacks in 2009 to 707 in 2022. Compromised emails were one of the main factors contributing to successful cyberattacks.
(Image: HIPAA Journal)
The biggest cyberattack on a healthcare ever was on Anthem Inc in 2015 that impacted over 78.8 million individuals. It cost the health insurer around $230 million in clean-up costs, $115 million in lawsuits, $39.5 million to settle general investigation cost, and $16 million for the OCR investigation.
The HIPAA Journal inferred that among the high number of data breaches, 81% of them involved less than 50,000 records. And 58% of the incidents exposed 500 to 999 records. Protected information was exfiltration the most from network server followed by email.
The theft of protected health information has increased however, the observation around it says that even though cyberattacks have not led to deaths per se, it has contributed to treatment delays in patient care and have also increased mortality rates.