EU: Number of cyber attacks on critical European sectors has doubled

The number of cyber-attacks on critical sectors in Europe has doubled in one year from 146 in 2019 to 304 in 2020. That’s what the European Network and Information Security Agency, which is part of the EU, says.

The increase is evidenced by figures from the agency owned by CNN. The agency sees a direct correlation with the corona pandemic. 304 significant attacks were recorded by the agency targeting what it calls “critical sectors.” In 2019, there were still 146. The number of attacks on hospitals and health networks also increased by 47 percent in one year. It is not known how many attacks this concerns.

The attacks had a significant impact, CNN writes, especially in the form of ransomware. Enisa team leader Apostolos Malatras tells the news channel that there was a rush because the need for digital infrastructure was suddenly so great. “Security was also a consideration”, it says. At the same time, people stayed indoors and had time to look for vulnerabilities in systems and critical infrastructure, he added.

In March of this year, Ireland’s national healthcare system was hit by a ransomware attack. As a result, appointments could not be scheduled digitally. In addition, in December, the European Medicines Agency EMA was the victim of a cyber attack, in which information from corona vaccines was stolen. And in September last year, a ransomware attack on a German hospital led to the possible death of a patient as she had to be transferred to another hospital in critical condition.