Finlay said health-care systems in the United States and Ireland have also been targeted.Ĥ. He said the increased use of technology in hospitals may be contributing to their vulnerability.Īnd it's not just in Canada. Paul-Émile Cloutier, president and CEO of HealthCareCAN, an organization that represents research hospitals, regional health authorities and health organizations, said that since 2019, there have also been attacks on hospitals in Ontario, a private laboratory services company in Toronto, and the agency that manages digital health records in Saskatchewan. Other Canadian health organizations have also been targeted 'It takes a significant amount of effort, often, to execute them effectively.'ģ. 'These attacks are sophisticated, they are planned,' he said. While the nature of the attack in Newfoundland and Labrador is not yet known, Finlay said ransomware attacks are often specifically targeted at 'critical infrastructure,' which he said includes pipelines, food supply chains and health-care networks. Attacking a hospital or a medical system in the context of COVID-19, in the context of an ongoing public health crisis, generates significant leverage.' 'Ransomware attackers attack organizations from which they believe that they can generate the highest ransom payment. 'Cyberattacks, and particularly ransomware attacks, are all about leverage,' Charles Finlay, executive director of the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at Ryerson University, said in an interview Tuesday. The pandemic has made hospitals a bigger target 'Because if it's of value to you, you're willing to pay to either keep it or get it back.'Ģ. 'Ransomware has changed that, because now the data you've got, it doesn't have to be of value to the attacker, it just has to be of value to you,' he said in an interview Tuesday. Hospitals used to believe they wouldn't be targeted by hackers because they didn't have valuable intellectual property or trade secrets that could be stolen, he said. Ransomware - a form of malicious software that encrypts or deletes someone's data until they pay a ransom - has changed the nature of hacking attacks, said Robert Gordon, a strategic adviser at the Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange, a non-profit organization that works to reduce cyber risks. Ransomware has changed the dynamic of hacking attacks Here are five factors that help explain why hospitals and health-care facilities are being targeted:ġ.

Hackers' new tactic is to target health-care institutions, they say, because the COVID-19 pandemic has increased pressure on victims to pay up.

MONTREAL - Security experts say the suspected cyberattack on Newfoundland and Labrador's health-care system, which led to the cancellation of thousands of medical appointments and forced a local health authority to revert to using paper, isn't an isolated incident.

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