Ransomware: AXA Units in Asia Hit, New Zealand Hospitals Hit, Irish Health System Still Struggling

It’s like it’s some kind of cyber pandemic!

Who could have predicted this???

Random hackers just doing random hacking all over the world at the same time – and none of them getting caught!

No one even knows where they are!

But they’re doing this everywhere!

At the same time!

Asia!

AP:

The Thai affiliate of Paris-based insurance company AXA said Tuesday it is investigating a ransomware attack by Russian-speaking cybercriminals that has affected operations in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, a cyberattack on a public health provider in New Zealand took down information systems across five hospitals, forcing staff to cancel some elective surgeries and creating all sorts of other problems.

In Bangkok, Krungthai AXA said it has formed a team with AXA’s Inter Partner Assistance to urgently investigate the problem. It was unclear how long it might take to evaluate the exposure of personal data after the criminals claimed to have stolen 3 terabytes of data including medical records, customer IDs and privileged communications with hospitals and doctors.

New Zealand!

In New Zealand, Waikato District Health Board Chief Executive Kevin Snee said its emergency department was now only taking urgent patients. He said administrators were working to resolve the issue but he gave no timeline for when the system might be restored.

Dr. Deborah Powell, the national secretary for two unions representing doctors and other health professionals, said the attack hit every part of the operation, with doctors unable to access clinical records to quickly assess patients.

Still, Powell said she didn’t believe patients were at extra risk because staff were using workarounds.

Hospital discharges were being done by hand, and a pager system to alert multiple doctors when a patient suffered a cardiac arrest that was down was replaced by a system of personal mobile numbers.

Ireland (ongoing)!

AP:

Ireland’s health system was still struggling to restore its computers and treat patients on Tuesday, four days after it shut down its entire IT system in response to a cyberattack.

Thousands of diagnostic appointments, cancer treatment clinics and surgeries have been canceled since a ransomware attack on Friday.

Conti, a Russian-speaking ransomware group, was demanding $20 million, according to the ransom negotiation page on its darknet site viewed by The Associated Press. The gang threatened Monday to “start publishing and selling your private information very soon” if the money was not paid.

The government will not be paying any money,” Justice Minister Heather Humphreys told broadcaster RTE. “We will not be blackmailed.”

It’s almost like someone is doing this on purpose!

Happening all at once like this!

Who could have predicted such a thing???