NHS Barts trust attacked by ransomware gang
Russian ransomware gang BlackCat has allegedly stolen 7TB of data from the NHS Trust
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Russian ransomware gang BlackCat, also known as ALPHV, has claimed that it has stolen 7TB of data from Barts Health National Health Service (NHS) Trust.
The claim comes from the gang itself, which posted news on the cyber attack on its dark web data leaks site. The post was made on June 30, with the gang calling it the “most bigger leak [sic] from health care system in UK”.
BlackCat went on to threaten Barts Trust, saying that the organization had three days make contact with the gang regarding the cyber attack and data theft. If the Trust chose not to contact them, the gang said they would start publishing the data online, which allegedly mostly contains “citizens confidential documents”.
These documents contain, according to BlackCat, personally identifying information on both employees and clinicians at the Trust, including National Insurance numbers (referred to as Social Security Numbers by the gang).
The documents also contain financial data including client documentation and credit card information, financial reports, accounting and loan data and insurance agreements.
A spokesperson for the Barts Trust said the organization was aware of the allegations made by BlackCat and that they were investigating the claims “as a matter of urgency”.
It is unclear how BlackCat obtained the data, however due to the disruptive and destructive nature of ransomware, it is unlikely this threat vector was used against Barts Trust.
One of the biggest ransomware attacks the NHS has faced was caused by the WannaCry ransomware worm infiltrating its systems. The attack took place in May, 2017, and impacted more than 300,000 computers worldwide. For the NHS England and Scotland, the cyber attack saw 70,000 devices including computers, theatre equipment, MRI scanners and blood-storage refrigerators impacted by the malware.
