Communications of the ACM
Woman Becomes First Healthcare Cyberattack Death
A woman in Germany became the first person in the world to die as a result of a cyberattack on a healthcare system.
Credit: Moment Editorial/Getty Images
A woman in Germany suffering a life-threatening illness was the first person to die from a cyberattack on a healthcare system, when a hospital could not admit her because its systems were down.
Ransomware infiltrated the University Clinic in Dusseldorf through a flaw in a Citrix virtual private network, which forced the ambulance carrying the victim to be rerouted to Wuppertal, and she died en route.
Germany's Federal Office for Information Security was called in to strengthen the hospital's systems; chief Arne Schoenbohm said the office had been aware of the Citrix flaw since December 2019, and had urged healthcare facilities to immediately upgrade their security.
Said Schoenbohm, " I can only urge you not to ignore or postpone such warnings but to take appropriate action immediately. This incident shows once again how seriously this danger must be taken."
From The Daily Mail
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