French hospitals hit by ransomware cyberattack

Area 1 Security CEO Oren Falkowitz discusses the difference between a company hack -- user data stolen -- and a city hack -- when critical services are affected.

Australia's Prime minister Scott Morrison says his country is under a broad cyberattack from a "state-based actor" targeting government, public services and businesses, but declines to name the suspect(s) at this stage. China, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Russia, the United States and a number of European countries are known to have developed advanced cyberwarfare capabilities. But suspicions immediately fell on Beijing, which has clashed repeatedly with Canberra as it looks to increase the cost of Australia speaking out against Communist Party interests.

France will enter "crisis organization" on Thursday, increasing hospital beds, delaying non-urgent surgery and mobilizing all medical staff, a new report has revealed. Follow DW for the latest.

In a tweet posted on February 11, the Center Hospitalier de Dax-Côte d'Argent revealed that it had fallen prey to a cyber-attack and was trying to restore systems that included the telephone switchboard.

DarkSide, a group of veteran cybercriminals, is believed to be behind the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, the worst cyberattack on critical US infrastructure to date.

The US​ government has declared a regional emergency after a cyberattack​ forced the shutdown of a key oil pipeline​ stretching nearly 9,000 kilometres along the US East Coast. The attack on Colonial Pipeline's system has yet again exposed the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to cybercrime, amid increasing hacking activity around the world. Plus, Elon Musk's rocket company says it accepts dogecoin as payment for its planned lunar mission next year. The announcement comes after the price of the meme-inspired cryptocurrency dropped by a third following comments by Musk, who called it a "hustle".

Ireland's health regulator said the shutdown of health system computers is a precaution and the COVID vaccination program is unaffected.

The Brazilian multinational JBS has closed plants in Australia, Canada and the US, driving livestock futures down, pork prices up and sparking global food supply fears.

In this edition, we tell you more about the growing threat of ransomware attacks. Since the beginning of 2021, the total amount paid by cyberattack victims in ransoms has reportedly reached $18 billion, with the number of attacks increasing by 300 percent in the US alone.

US IT company Kaseya urged its customers to shut down their servers after hackers smuggled ransomware onto its network. Such attacks infiltrate widely-used software and demand ransom to regain access.

The Russian-linked REvil ransomware group is alleged to have carried out an attack that affected hundreds of companies worldwide. Joe Biden says the US will respond if the Kremlin is involved.

A widespread cyberattack has hit gas stations and billboards across Iran, halting some fuel sales. Billboards have been altered to anti-regime messages challenging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.