Ransomware attack on German hospital possibly resulted in patient death

A ransomware attack that hit the systems of a Düsseldorf hospital may have resulted in the death of a patient after the critical condition of the woman was transferred to another hospital.

On September 10, the University Hospital Düsseldorf declared that a major IT outage was taking place, which meant that the clinic was only accessible to a limited extent. The hospital canceled all appointments, advised patients not to come and discontinued emergency care.

On Thursday, the hospital announced that it was a cyber attack and that IT staff can slowly but surely restore the systems and provide access to data. According to the university hospital, the perpetrators would not demand a ransom. According to the hospital, the attack could have taken place via a vulnerability in commercial software used worldwide. “Before the software company finally closed this leak, there was plenty of time to penetrate the systems.”

In the night of 11 to 12 September, a patient had to be rushed to the University Hospital Düsseldorf, but due to the ransomware attack, the ambulance had to divert to the hospital in Wuppertal. Her treatment therefore took place an hour later. According to the German NTV, the German police are investigating negligence because the woman died after she was transferred.

According to a report by the Attorney General, the ransomware encrypted 30 servers in the clinic and requested the perpetrators to contact them, without demanding another ransom. That message turned out to be addressed to the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. After the police contacted the blackmailers and made it clear to them that not the university but a hospital had been affected, the perpetrators reportedly handed over the key to release the systems. After that they would not have responded.