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CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity technology company based in Sunnyvale, California created the name Wizard Spider in association with the threat actor. CrowdStrike Intelligence says that the group has been targeting large organizations since at least 2018.

The hacker group is known to go “big game hunting” to target and breach large organizations. They have been linked to attacks on the tech company, Pitney Bowes, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Ransomware attack in-progress

It’s not known how much the ransomware attack is impacting patient care. The issues appear to be widespread in the UHS system.

In a statement, Universal Health Services said, "In the meantime, while this matter may result in temporary disruptions to certain aspects of our clinical and financial operations, our acute care and behavioral health facilities are utilizing their established back-up processes including offline documentation methods. Patient care continues to be delivered safely and effectively."

Most hospital systems use the Cerner healthcare technology system to handle patients’ electronic health records to ensure individual patient data is safe. It is believed that patient information is secure.

Some ransomware actors have promised to leave hospitals alone

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some ransomware hackers have promised not to attack hospitals and health organizations. Wizard Spider with the Ryuk ransomware did not make any promises.

“It is sad to see that despite hackers’ claims to stop healthcare cyber-attacks during the COVID-19 crisis, such attacks still take place,” said Ilia Sotnikov, vice president of product management for IT security firm Netwrix, as quoted by ThreatPost.

 “Ransomware attacks are especially disastrous for healthcare as they block access to IT systems and patient data in hospitals, leading to the inability to treat people, and might eventually cost lives,” Sotikov added.

Last week, police in Germany are investigating a ransomware attack murder case after a woman died because she was diverted to another hospital during the attack. 

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