Security News > 2020 > March > Report: US Health and Human Services department hit by cyberattack amidst coronavirus fears
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services was the victim of a cyberattack on Sunday as the federal government attempts to deal with the coronavirus crisis, according to a report from Bloomberg.
"The U.S. Health & Human Services fell victim to a Distributed Denial of Service attack yesterday when several endpoints controlled by a nation-state attacked their networks," Stephen Boyce, principal consultant at risk management and digital forensics firm Crypsis Group, said.
"DDoS attacks are not sophisticated, but the timing of the attack and potential motive raises significant concern," Boyce added.
"The goal of these attacks is to prevent legitimate users from accessing HHS websites and systems. These attacks could also be a precursor for a larger attack that may result in data access and or exfiltration. The most prominent targets of such attacks are institutions that are providing information to the public regarding COVID-19. These institutions include: local, state, federal, and tribal government agencies, media outlets, pharmaceuticals companies, and healthcare industries. We should expect more DDoS attacks on the institutions mentioned above and an increase in spear-phishing attacks as well."
"A nation state hostile to the US will want to damage our response times to coronavirus. Petty thieves will assume that classical attacks are going to be more effective because cyber defense staffing is likely distracted right now dealing with the influx of issues that come from a demand shift for specific services. Organized groups are likely empowered by the situation and will want to take advantage of it. They can attack specific services, particularly financial institutions because of the overall distracted nature of the defenders."