‘Some’ Dutch hospitals have been bombarded with DDoS attacks by the pro-Russian group Killnet. The website of the UMCG in Groningen is therefore inaccessible. There would be no risks to patient safety.
Healthcare security center Z-CERT says that ‘some’ hospitals have been affected by ddos attacks and that Killnet is behind this. It is not clear how many and which hospitals have been affected. “As yet, there are no indications that there have been any risks to patient safety,” writes Z-CERT. This center says it will further investigate the attacks.
In any case the website of the University Hospital of Groningen is unreachable due to the attack. According to RTV Noord the UMCG website has been unavailable since Saturday. The patient’s medical records website has not been attacked, so patients can still view surgeries, medications, appointments and their medical history. According to the UMCG, the attack is going in waves.
Killnet has according to RTL Nieuws also targets hospitals in Germany, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom, among others. The motive of the group is the support of these countries for Ukraine in the war against Russia. Killnet is a cybercrime group that often carries out ddos attacks. For example, last week there were attacks against German airports, government bodies and financial institutions, reports Security Week. In October there were ddos attacks against US airports.
It is not clear whether the attackers have direct ties to the Russian government. Cyber criminals in Russia are often not directly controlled by the Kremlin, but the government tolerates the gangs as long as they do not attack Russian institutions or citizens.
