First NCSC Semiannual Report with a Focus on Healthcare
The first semi-annual report of the NCSC addresses the most important cyber incidents of the second half of 2020 in Switzerland and internationally. The main topic is digitalization in healthcare and its challenges in current cyber threats.
Digitization is also advancing inexorably in the healthcare sector. Globalized supply chains, computer-controlled logistics or electronic patient dossiers confirm this. But increasing digitization also offers potential attack surfaces for cybercriminals. Successful attacks in healthcare have far-reaching consequences. A data leak can affect particularly sensitive personal data. In addition, functional failures of IT systems or even temporary unavailability of data can endanger people's health or even their lives. The semi-annual report highlights current cases and the necessary protective measures.
Ransomware holds the greatest potential for damage
Incidents with encryption Trojans (ransomware) are among the events with the greatest potential for damage, because operational downtime and recovery cause great costs and, in the worst case, lead to a complete loss of data. Attackers demand high ransoms for the prospective decryption of data. In the second half of 2020, the NCSC received 34 reports on this from various business sectors in Switzerland. Around 80 percent of the reports concerned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Another malware made headlines worldwide last year. After a break of several months, the NCSC again observed various spam waves of the "Emotet" malware since July 2020. Originally known as an e-banking Trojan, "Emotet" was most recently used primarily for sending spam as well as reloading other malware until then on January 27, 2021, Europol announced that the "Emotet botnet" had been deactivated by a coordinated effort of international law enforcement and judicial authorities. The semi-annual report provides insight into how "Emotet" works.
Source: Confederation
