Worldwide, since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been an exponential increase in cyber attacks on the health system, hospitals, university clinics and research organizations that manage sensitive and valuable data against the Covid-19.
In this context the Committee of the Red Cross, in an open letter published in the Guardian and the New York Times, urges governments to engage in the fight against cyber attacks that knock out hospitals and medical research centers, and that “they put at risk human lives".
"We call on governments to take immediate and resolute action to stop cyberattacks": this is how the letter signed by over 40 personalities among politicians, entrepreneurs and academics begins, including the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer, ex secretary general of the ONU Ban Ki-moon, some Nobel Peace Laureates such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Desmond Tutu.
The request comes a month after the Czech Republic declared that the University Hospital in Brno, the second largest in the country, was hit by an IT attack in the early hours of the day. The University Hospital Brno is home to one of the 18 laboratories in the Czech Republic that test the new Coronavirus. The damage was important, first of all the delay on the test results, extending the time at a time when every minute is crucial.
It is not possible to respond with a precise figure, but it is certain that almost 20% of health facilities do not have the ability to respond to a hacker attack in less than 4 hours. An interminable time in the field of health: think of a surgical procedure in progress or the decision of which therapy to administer to a patient.
We need immediate action.