February 20th – In a U.S. federal court, a man has plead guilty to taking a leadership role in two different cyber attacks that resulted in tens of millions of dollars in losses and that temporarily prevented a Vermont hospital from functioning correctly.
Although the attacks occurred more than three years ago, the impact has been felt for some time.
What happened
According to prosecutors, Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, age 37, worked with an organization that begin to infect thousands of computers with malware, starting in 2009.
Members of his group impersonated employees of corporations and coerced actual employees into transferring money from targeted accounts. The group used “money mules” in order to launder the funds.
In 2018, Mr. Penchukov began another malware enterprise. This malware collected personal data from victims, including bank account details. Attack targets included the University of Vermont Medical Center, which suffered losses in excess of $30 million.
Vermont Medical Center
At the time of the incident, the attack forced the hospital to divert hundreds of cancer patients. Staff were also required to hunt through written records in order to find critical information.
Medical center president Dr. Stephen Leffler stated before Congress that the hospital lacked access to electronic medical records for 28 days.
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