A cyberattack hits the US Department of Health and Human Services

While the Coronavirus is spreading in the U.S., a mysterious cyberattack hit the Department of Health and Human Services on Saturday.

According to Bloomberg, that cited three people familiar with the matter, a cyberattack hit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Saturday night.

People cited by Bloomberg confirmed that the cyber attack aimed at slowing the agency’s systems down.

“The U.S. Health and Human Services Department suffered a cyber-attack on its computer system Sunday night during the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter.” reads the report published by Bloomberg.

“The attack appears to have been intended to slow the agency’s systems down, but didn’t do so in any meaningful way, said the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss an incident that was not public”

At the time of writing, there is no news data breach, but officials at the US Health and Human Services Department believe the cyber attack was carried out by a foreign threat actor.

On Sunday night, the National Security Council tweeted that the news about an alleged national quarantine are fake.

Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus

— NSC 45 Archived (@WHNSC45) March 16, 2020

Bloomberg contacted the U.S. Health and Human Services Department for a comment, but White House and National Security Council did not immediately respond.

Unfortunately, despite the Coronavirus outbreak, threat actors continue to target users and organizations worldwide.

Crooks and nation-state actors are also launching Coronavirus-themed attacks against targets worldwide. The healthcare systems of any country are under pressure, for this reason, the news of a cyberattack against a hospital is regrettable.

A few days ago the Brno University Hospital, in Brno (Czech Republic), has been hit by a severe cyber attack. The hospital is one of the major COVID-19 testing laboratories in Czech.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – U.S., hacking)

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