Germany: German hospitals may be at risk from hackers

The head of the Federal Service Cybersecurity (BSI) of Germany Arne Senbom has argued that the country’s hospitals may be at risk of hacker attacks following similar incidents in the United States and Ireland.

“There is a great threat to hospitals,” Senbom said in an interview with Die Zeit. He recalled that German hospitals have been targeted by hacker in the past while agreeing with another BSI expert, Dirk Heger, that there are no similar concerns for the safety of other critical infrastructure, such as nuclear power plants.

According to Senbom, the BSI has developed a set of rules to strengthen hospital cybersecurity, but it will take some time for them to be implemented.

On May 14, the Public Health Authority of Ireland (HSE) announced that its computer network had been attacked by hackers demanding a ransom of $ 20 million. The Irish government refused to pay the amount.

There have been similar attacks on infrastructure in the United States, most recently in the network of the fuel transport company Colonial Pipelines.

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