A new hacker group is conducting cyber attacks against the healthcare industry around the world, this time they have gotten holds on the systems controlling X-Ray, MRI and other medical machines, according to a report from security researchers at cybersecurity firm Symantec.
Security researchers in past has warned about the vulnerability of connected medical devices. The group who is newly discoverd named as Orangeworm is mainly targeting Healthcare sector of America, Europe, and some parts of Asia.
“While Orangeworm is known to have been active for at least several years, we do not believe that the group bears any hallmarks of a state-sponsored actor—it is likely the work of an individual or a small group of individuals. There are currently no technical or operational indicators to ascertain the origin of the group,” the researchers state.
According to a reseracher Alan Neville at Symantec, it seems that the attackers are more interested in learning how these devices operate rather than to perform any sabotage type activities.
But, you cannot trust them and say that they couldn't carry out more aggressive attacks. Once they are able to successfully infected a computer with their malware, called Kwampirs, "the attackers have the ability to extend the malware’s functionality by downloading and executing additional modules in memory," Neville added.
"These modules may be customized to the victim’s environment to assist the attackers in performing any desirable action on these devices," he said. Adding to the intrigue, Orangeworm also showed an interest in "machines used to assist patients in completing consent forms for required procedures," Symantec wrote.
Attackers first infected one computer, then spread to others, infecting each with Kwampirs, a tool that granted them remote access to each infected host.
This is not the first time when hackers have hacked medical devices, recently, WannaCry ransomware too targeted hospitals across the world,