Microsoft Shares Health Sector COVID-19 Ransomware Insights

Hackers are targeting network devices like gateway and virtual private network (VPN) appliances, as organizations have moved to a remote workforce during the COVID-19 crisis, including a rise in human-operated ransomware attacks, according to research from Microsoft. Microsoft is urging the protection of critical services, especially hospitals, to ensure uninterrupted system access during the crisis. But recently, there have been an increasing number of human-operated ransomware campaigns that have taken advantage of vulnerable network devices. Human-operated ransomware attacks are a cut above run-of-the-mill commodity ransomware campaigns,” Microsoft warns. “Adversaries behind these attacks exhibit extensive knowledge of systems administration and common network security misconfigurations, which are often lower on the list of ‘fix now’ priorities.