Ransomware kills a woman in Germany

A woman who was supposed to be admitted to the Düsseldorf University Clinic lost her life as a result of a ransomware attack. This is the first time such a case has been documented. As a consequence of the incident, the investigators could equate the affair to a murder case rather than a cyber attack as usually happens.

Woman killed by ransomware: it had never happened

To provoke death, the inability of the facility to accept new patients in serious condition due to technical problems that have arisen. The staff thus had to transfer it to another destination in the city of Wuppertal, about 32 km away. This did not allow her to provide the necessary treatment in good time leading to her death.

According to reports from the local press, the attack was not even aimed at the hospital, but at a nearby university. The author allegedly interrupted him after being intercepted by the authorities who warned him that he had targeted the wrong target, providing the necessary instructions to regain possession of the encrypted information. No ransom demands seem to have been made and the data should have been recovered in full without any loss.

It is not the first time that a ransomware has hit a reality that operates in the healthcare sector: in 2017 the famous WannaCry has brought National Health Service systems in the UK to their knees.

Source: Associated Press News