Security News > 2021 > May > FBI Warns Conti Ransomware Hit 16 U.S. Health and Emergency Services

The adversary behind Conti ransomware targeted no fewer than 16 healthcare and first responder networks in the U.S. within the past year, totally victimizing over 400 organizations worldwide, 290 of which are situated in the country.

"The FBI identified at least 16 Conti ransomware attacks targeting U.S. healthcare and first responder networks, including law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services, 9-1-1 dispatch centers, and municipalities within the last year," the agency said.

Conti is one of many ransomware strains that have capitulated on that trend, commencing its operations in July 2020 as a private Ransomware-as-a-Service, in addition to jumping on the double extortion bandwagon by launching a data leak site.

Based on an analysis published by ransomware recovery firm Coveware last month, Conti was the second most prevalent strain deployed, accounting for 10.2% of all the ransomware attacks in the first quarter of 2021.

Infections involving Conti have also breached the networks of Ireland's Health Service Executive and Department of Health, prompting the National Cyber Security Centre to issue an alert of its own on May 16, stating that "There are serious impacts to health operations and some non-emergency procedures are being postponed as hospitals implement their business continuity plans."

Conti operators are known for infiltrating enterprise networks and spreading laterally using Cobalt Strike beacons prior to exploiting compromised user credentials to deploy and execute the ransomware payloads, with the encrypted files renamed with a ".

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