Ransomware gang LockBit is claiming responsibility for an attack on a Chicago children’s hospital in an apparent deviation from its previous policy of not targeting nonprofits.
Stooping to new lows, the criminals are reportedly unwilling to reverse the attack on Saint Anthony Hospital, as they had done in previous cases such as Toronto’s SickKids hospital.
Saint Anthony Hospital confirmed the attack via a statement published this week, saying files containing patient information had been copied by an unknown attacker.
In response to an affiliate that attacked Toronto’s SickKids hospital last year, LockBit formally apologized, issued a free decryptor, and supposedly booted that affiliate out of its program for violating the rules.
We’ve been unable to get in touch with the spokesperson for the gang to ask about the attack and shift in approach, but the malware collectors at vx-underground were under the impression that LockBit was either ignorant to the fact Saint Anthony was a nonprofit, or simply didn’t care.
“The evolution of cybersecurity over the last decade has proved that criminal gangs have also had to pivot in terms of how they attack and financially conquer. Ransomware has become a different beast where data has become even more of the focal point in the way it has become a weapon of extortion rather than just relying on an encryption attack followed by ransom demands.”
