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Hospitals Could be Targeted by Hackers: German Cyber Security Chief

by CISOCONNECT Bureau

Over the previous five years, a number of cyber attacks have hit German clinics

Following two high-profile digital attacks this month on the Irish health service and a U.S. fuel pipeline, the head of Germany’s cyber security agency suggested on Saturday that hospitals may be more vulnerable to hackers.

Last Friday, Ireland’s health service operator shut down its IT systems to secure them from a “significant” ransomware attack, paralysing diagnostic services, causing COVID-19 testing to be disrupted, and forcing numerous appointments to be cancelled.

Over the previous five years, a succession of cyber attacks have targeted German clinics, and Arne Schoenbohm, president of the BSI federal cyber security agency, told the Zeit Online newspaper that he sees “a greater danger at hospitals”.

After one of the most destructive cyber attacks on record, the 5,500-mile (8,850-km) U.S. Colonial Pipeline Co system closed in May, stopping millions of barrels of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from flowing to the East Coast from the Gulf Coast.

Due to remote working during the COVID-19 outbreak, many German organisations, according to Schoenbohm, were at an elevated risk of being targeted by hackers.

Schoenbohm said “Many companies had to enable home offices within a short time,” adding that as a result, many of their IT systems were at risk of being hacked.

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