Killnet Group Increases DDOS Attacks on Healthcare Organizations, Says Microsoft Report
According to cybersecurity researchers from Microsoft, the Killnet group has ramped up the number of its DDOS attacks on healthcare organizations. The group started targeting health websites in February and launched a campaign aimed at hospitals in over 25 US states. However, less than 50% of all attacks were successful, according to the CISA agency.
Analyzing the DDOS attacks on healthcare organizations, the Microsoft Azure network security group has noticed an increase in the total number of attacks from November 18, 2022, to February 17, 2023. The group found that the number of attacks rose from 10-20 a day in November to 40-60 attacks daily in February.
Killnet mainly targeted pharmaceuticals and biological sciences (31%), hospitals (26%), medical insurance (16%), medical services (16%), public healthcare (8%), and biotechnology (3%). The group employed two methods of attacks, including creating many different connections to shut down the target site and setting many new compounds to deplete the target’s resources for a short time.
Researchers claim that Killnet and related cybercriminal groups often use DDOS attacks as their primary tactic. Through DDOS scripts, botnets, and fake attacks, they can easily overpower websites and applications on the internet.
Cloudflare’s Omer Joachimik noted that Killnet DDOS campaigns used crowdsourcing, where Killnet operators approach different groups and individuals who either use several botnets or prefer using different attack methods.
CISA’s DDOS-mitigation agency has started paying more attention to this problem, as this government organization aims to secure and protect critically important infrastructures. In 2022, the agency helped numerous organizations to prevent DDOS attacks, especially those launched by Killnet. Additionally, CISA, together with some IT companies, offered free resources to underfunded organizations to reduce the effects of DDOS attacks.