[9] Illustrating how rapidly and dangerously this can play out, Sarah Coble (writing in Infosecurity Mag on 12 June 2020 reported,[10] that "the life of Jessica Hatch, a Houston business owner, was “threatened after cyber-criminals hacked into her company’s social media account and posted racist messages".
[11] On 6 September 2020, the Argentina's official immigration agency, Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, suffered a Netwalker ransomware attack that temporarily halted border crossing into and out of the country.
On 10 September 2020, German authorities say a hacker attack caused the failure of IT systems at the University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD) Duesseldorf, and a woman who needed urgent admission died after she had to be taken to another city for treatment.
[14] According to The Guardian, in a worst-case scenario, crackers could potentially carry out "cyber-physical attacks by turning satellite antennas into weapons that can operate like microwave ovens.
The mother, Kidd, wasn’t informed Springhill was struggling with a cyberattack when she went in to deliver her daughter, and doctors and nurses then missed a number of key tests that would have shown that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck, leading to brain damage and death nine months later.
[21] On February 5, 2021 unidentified cyber actors accessed the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system of a drinking water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida.
On September 21, 2021 Iowa-based provider of agriculture services NEW Cooperative Inc. was hit by a ransomware attack forcing it to take its systems offline.
[23] On October 26, 2021 Schreiber Foods, a Wisconsin based milk distributor, was victimized by hackers demanding a rumored $2.5 million ransom to unlock their computer systems.
[24] On April 28, 2022 St. Vincent Hospital’s in Worcester in Massachusetts was the victim of a cyberattack which sent wait times in the emergency room skyrocketing, with some patients saying they were unable to see a doctor.
St. Vincent Hospital’s statement reads: “Tenet, our parent company, experienced a cybersecurity incident last week and responded with extensive protection protocols to safeguard its systems and prevent further unauthorized activity.
We are grateful to our physicians, nurses and staff for continuing to provide safe, quality patient care while we work to address this matter.”[25] The aviation sector has also been affected by disruptions due to cyber attacks.
Its findings are some of the most concrete evidence to date that the steady drumbeat of hackers attacking American medical centers leads to patients’ receiving worse care and being more likely to die.