Interpol: Cyber criminals target hospitals combating with COVID-19 for money
Cybercriminals are targeting the computer systems of hospitals involved in the preliminary stages of the fight against coronavirus to demand money, the International Police Service (Interpol) has announced.
According to Interpol, cybercriminals are blocking computers at these hospitals with the software they send by email and demanding money to remove the barrier they put on files and systems.
Interpol announced that the police force of the 194 member states had been informed of the situation and that it was providing support to agencies fighting such cybercrime.
In this context, the cyber crime-fighting team is monitoring all threats related to COVID-19 and is working in partnership with institutions working in the field of cybersecurity to support institutions facing this threat.
“Locking down critical systems of hospitals does not only delay medical intervention at this unprecedented time, but it can also lead to direct deaths,” said Jürgen Stock, secretary-general of Interpol, noting that the agency is ready to do all it can to ensure health systems are not damaged.
Interpol has made the following recommendations to protect hospitals and health centers from such attacks:
- Open emails from only reliable sources and install software/applications
- Do not click on links in emails from unfamiliar addresses, do not open attachments
- Make email systems reliable in a way that protects them from spam
- Back up important files frequently, save them separately from your system (cloud storage, external disk, etc.)b)
- Make sure the latest anti-virus software is installed and running on your computer
- Use strong and unique passwords and change them regularly
