Officials at
the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District were dealt a blow in their ability
to inform the public about the Coronavirus outbreak when it was attacked with
ransomware knocking its website offline.
The attack
struck on March 10, according to published
reports, taking down the website and the staff’s ability to access records. The
website has since been recovered and the organization said the attack, which
was conducted using NetWalker (aka mailto) ransomware, did not affect email
accounts, environmental health records and patient electronic medical record.
While the
site was down, the Illinois-based facility used Facebook to keep patients informed
on Coronavirus-related matters.
An email to Champaign-Urbana
Public Health District for further details has not yet been returned.
NetWalker
was first seen in the wild in August 2019, but it was not until February 2020
that it was determined to be hitting enterprise level targets, according to Bleeping
Computer. The malware is considered to by highly sophisticated.