Ransomware is a type of digital blackmail. Photograph used for representational purposes only
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The World Health Organization and some 50 countries issued a warning on Friday, November 8, 2024 at the United Nations about the rise of ransomware attacks against hospitals, with the United States specifically blaming Russia.

Ransomware is a type of digital blackmail in which hackers encrypt the data of victims — individuals, companies or institutions — and demand money as a “ransom” in order to restore it.

Such attacks on hospitals “can be issues of life and death,” according to WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who addressed the U.N. Security Council during a meeting called by the United States.

“Surveys have shown that attacks on the healthcare sector have increased in both scale and frequency,” Ghebreyesus said, emphasising the importance of international cooperation to combat them. “Cybercrime, including ransomware, poses a serious threat to international security,” he added, calling on the Security Council to consider it as such.

A joint statement co-signed by over 50 countries — including South Korea, Ukraine, Japan, Argentina, France, Germany and the United Kingdom — offered a similar warning. “These attacks pose direct threats to public safety and endanger human lives by delaying critical healthcare services, cause significant economic harm, and can pose a threat to international peace and security,” read the statement, shared by U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger.

The statement also condemned nations which “knowingly” allow those responsible for ransomware attacks to operate from.

At the meeting, Neuberger directly called out Moscow, saying: “Some states — most notably Russia — continue to allow ransomware actors to operate from their territory with impunity.” France and South Korea also pointed the finger at North Korea.

Russia defended itself by claiming the Security Council was not the appropriate forum to address cybercrime. “We believe that today’s meeting can hardly be deemed a reasonable use of the Council’s time and resources,” said Russian ambassador Vassili Nebenzia. “If our Western colleagues wish to discuss the security of healthcare facilities,” he continued, “they should agree in the Security Council upon specific steps to stop the horrific… attacks by Israel on hospitals in the Gaza Strip.”

Washington:

From fearmongering about a looming “World War III” to false narratives linking a cabal of global elite to a cyberattack, a torrent of online conspiracy theories took off Friday after a major IT crash.

Airlines, banks, TV channels and financial institutions were engulfed in turmoil after the crash, one of the biggest in recent years that was the result of a faulty software update to an antivirus program operating on Microsoft Windows.

The proliferation of internet-breaking conspiracy theories on social media platforms — many of which have removed guardrails that once contained the spread of misinformation — illustrates the new normal of information chaos after a major world event.

The outage gave way to a swirl of evidence-free posts on X, the Elon Musk-owned site formerly known as Twitter, that peddled an apocalyptic narrative: The world was under attack by a nefarious force.

“I read somewhere once that ww3 (World War III) would be mostly a cyber war,” one user wrote on X.

The IT crash also stirred up an unfounded theory that the World Economic Forum — long a magnet for wild falsehoods — had plotted a global cyberattack.

To make that theory appear credible, many posts linked an old WEF video that warned about the possibility of a “cyberattack with Covid-like characteristics.”

The video, available on the WEF’s website, had cautioned that the only way to stop the exponential spread of the cyber threat would be to disconnect millions of vulnerable devices from each other and the internet.

– ‘Sad testament’ –
 The WEF has long been a target for conspiracy theorists pushing the idea of a shadowy cabal of elites working for private gain under the garb of solving global issues.

Also gaining rapid traction online were conspiratorial posts using the hashtag “cyber polygon,” a reference to a global training event aimed at preparing for potential future attacks.

“The proliferation of conspiracy theories in the wake of major global events such as the outage is a sad testament to the volatile nature of the information ecosystem,” Rafi Mendelsohn, vice president at the disinformation security company Cyabra, told AFP.

“What is unique to events like these is how social media platforms, forums, and messaging apps facilitate the rapid dissemination of content, allowing theories to gain traction quickly and reach a global audience.”

The trend demonstrates the ability of falsehoods to mutate into viral narratives on tech platforms, which have scaled back content moderation and reinstated accounts that are known purveyors of misinformation.

During fast-developing news events, confusion now often reigns on major tech platforms, with users scrambling to obtain accurate information in what appears to be a sea of false or misleading posts that rapidly gain traction.

– ‘Nefarious motives’ –

“This poses the larger question of combatting mis- and disinformation,” Michael W. Mosser, executive director of the Global Disinformation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, told AFP.

“The level of trust that is required to accept information from reputable sources has declined to such an extent that people are more willing to believe wild conspiracies that ‘must be true’ rather than the factual information relayed to them.”

The global outage, which brought myriad aspects of daily life to a standstill and sent US stocks falling, was linked to a bug in an update to an antivirus program for Windows systems from American cybersecurity group CrowdStrike.

Assurances by the Austin-based company’s chief executive, George Kurtz, that CrowdStrike had rolled out a fix and was “actively working” to resolve the crisis did little to stem the spread of online conspiracies.

“Combatting this misinformation with factual rebuttals is difficult, because the issue is so technical,” Mosser said.

“Explaining that the fault was in an improperly configured system file and that a fix is in process may be accurate, but it is not believed by those who are predisposed to see nefarious motives behind failures.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Wellington:

New Zealand on Tuesday blamed “state-sponsored” Chinese hackers for a “malicious” 2021 cyber attack that infiltrated sensitive government computer systems.

The country’s counter-espionage agency said a state-backed group known as “APT40” compromised computers linked to its parliamentary network.

The announcement comes on the back of similar claims unearthed in the United Kingdom, which overnight accused Beijing-linked groups of compromising parliamentary accounts.  

New Zealand security services minister Judith Collins said they were able to attribute the attack following a “robust technical assessment”. 

“These networks contain important information that enables the effective operation of the New Zealand government,” she said in a statement. 

“It is critical that we protect this information from all malicious cyber threats.”

APT40 has previously targeted “governmental organizations, companies, and universities in a wide range of industries”, according to the US government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. 

Attribution of sophisticated cyberattacks is both technically difficult and politically fraught — and is likely to anger China.

China’s ambassador to London will be summoned “to account for China’s conduct”, UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said, while Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he had raised the issue with his counterpart Wang Yi.

Wang recently wrapped up a rare diplomatic jaunt to New Zealand, where he stressed the need to work alongside “friends”. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kochi, Kerala:

S Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday said that the country’s space agency is facing more than 100 cyber-attacks daily.

S Somanath, while speaking on the concluding session of the 16th edition of the c0c0n, a two-day international cyber conference in Kerala’s Kochi, further said that the possibility of cyber-attacks is much higher in rocket technology which uses ultra-modern software and chip-based hardware.

“The organisation is equipped with a robust cybersecurity network to face such attacks,” he said.

Notably, the conference was organised by the Kerala Police and Information Security Research Association here.

The ISRO chief further said that apart from the software, ISRO is also going ahead with various tests focusing on the safety of the hardware chips inside the rockets.

“Earlier, the way of monitoring one satellite has changed to a way of software monitoring many satellites at a time. This indicates the growth of this sector. During COVID, it was possible to launch from a remote location which shows the triumph of technology,” he added.

He further said that there are different types of satellites that branch out for navigation, maintenance, etc.

“And apart from these, satellites which help the daily life of common people are also present. All these are controlled by different types of software. Cyber security is very important to protect all of these,’ Mr Somanath added.

He said advanced technology is a boon and a threat at the same time.

“We can face the challenges posed by cyber criminals using technology like artificial intelligence with the same technology. There should be research and hard work towards this end,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kerala Revenue Minister P Rajeev, who inaugurated the concluding session of the conference said that the state is a role model for cyber security governance as the state government is capable of providing adequate security to the cyber arena.

“The state government is capable of providing adequate security to the cyber arena. The government is also providing necessary support to this sector by establishing the Digital University in the state. Kerala is a state where the internet is ensured through K-Fone in every house,” the minister said.

He further said that the c0c0n is a role model for the Indian cyber security sector, which is making the necessary innovations for cyber security.

“C0c0n is capable of creating cyber security experts among the next generation,” P Rajeev added.

Hibi Eden MP presided over the function in which Mayor M Anilkumar was the chief guest. Actor Mamta Mohandas, Intelligence ADGP Manoj Abraham IPS and ISRA president Manu Zacharia also addressed the event.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)