(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); On June 3, 2024, as reported by Hackread.
com , attackers launched a targeted ransomware attack against Synnovis, a key outsourced lab service provider for NHS hospitals in South-East London. The perpetrators, identified as the Qilin ransomware gang, claimed to have stolen a trove of hospital and patient data. The gang then demanded $50 million in ransom, threatening to leak the data otherwise.
As a result of failed negotiations, the gang has now publicly leaked the entire dataset they had exfiltrated. In its updated incident report , NHS revealed that King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust were the most severely affected NHS Trusts in this incident. Consequentially, these trusts were forced to postpone 1,294 outpatient appointments and 320 elective procedures.
According to BBC reports, the ransomware incident severely impacted healthcare operations, affecting more than 3,000 hospital and GP appointments and operations due to disruptions in pathology services. Hackread.com can confirm that The Qilin ransomware gang utilized Telegram to distribute 400GB of sensitive data stolen from Synnovis.
This method differs from the typical approach of ransomware groups, who often use dedicated dark web leak sites or publicize their attacks to pressure and shame victims into paying ransom. Expert Commentary Peter Mackenzie , director of incident response at Sophos, commented on the .
