[BreachExchange] Ransomware attack on a healthcare firm slowed clinical trials

[Destry Winant]

https://www.engadget.com/ransomware-attack-slows-clinical-trials-161545599.html

Cyberattacks on the healthcare industry are causing more headaches.
The New York Times reports that clinical trials slowed down after
healthcare software provider eResearchTechnology suffered ransomware
attacks starting two weeks ago. IQVIA (a research firm managing
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine work) and Bristol Myers Squibb (the
leader of an alliance developing a fast COVID-19 test) were two of the
largest targets.

Both IQVIA and Bristol Myers Squibb said the effect of the attack was
“limited,” thanks in part to data backups, but other
eResearchTechnology customers apparently had to track trial patients
using paper. It’s not clear if the malware affected any COVID-19
trials.

It’s not certain who’s behind the ransomware, and eResearchTechnology
hasn’t said if it paid the ransom to get its computers back.

Word of the incident comes just days after a suspected massive
ransomware campaign against Universal Health Services hindered patient
care. Weeks earlier, a German patient died when digital ransom demands
forced a hospital to transfer a patient needing vital care. Ransomware
appears to be striking deeper into healthcare systems, and it’s having
a tangible effect on those systems at a time when they’re needed more
than ever.