He died because of ransomware! Another victim joins the list | #ransomware | #cybercrime

Redazione RHC : 26 June 2025 15:33

This is not the first time that a cyber attack has resulted in the loss of human lives.
We had already discussed it in the article “I deferichò per il ransomware. I casi noto, le tendenze e il punto sull’Italia“, in which we analyzed the direct link between cyber incidents and documented deaths.

Unfortunately, this phenomenon is increasingly frequent. We live in a world entirely surrounded by digital technologies, and precisely for this reason exposed to the risk of compromise. But when the target is no longer a piece of data, but a critical system like an emergency room or healthcare infrastructure, the consequences are no longer virtual: they become tragically real.

A ransomware attack that disrupted blood tests at several London hospitals last year contributed to the death of one patient, according to the National Health Service (NHS). Qilin cybercrime group’s attack on London-based Synnovis pathology service in June caused major disruption to care at a number of NHS hospitals and healthcare providers in London.

Following the attack, hospitals were unable to carry out blood tests at the usual speed. A spokesperson for King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said the delay was among “a number of contributing factors” that led to a patient’s death during the incident, as first reported by the Health Service Journal.

“Sadly, a patient died suddenly during the cyber attack. As is standard practice in such cases, we have carried out a detailed review of their care,” the spokesperson said. The investigation into the patient safety incident identifiedseveral contributing factors to the patient’s death. These included a long wait for the results of a blood test due to the cyber attack that affected the anatomical pathology services at the time.

In a statement, Synnovis CEO Mark Dollar said: “We are deeply saddened to learn that last year’s criminal cyber attack has been identified as a contributing factor to this patient’s death. Our thoughts are with the family involved.”

Last month, Recorded Future News revealed that two cyber attacks that would affect the National Health Service (NHS) in 2024 had been formally identified as potential risk factors for patients. These attacks are expected to target Synnovis and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, causing delays in cancer treatment.

The data of more than900,000 individuals is believed to have been compromised by the ransomware group’s extortion tactics,which involved publishing test results revealing the names of patients with symptoms of sexually transmitted infections and cancer.

A data analysis by data breach specialists CaseMatrix identifiedpersonal names, dates of birth, NHS phone numbers and, in some cases, personal contact details,along with pathology and histology forms used to share patient data between medical departments and institutions. A year after the breach, affected patients have still not been informed what data was exposed in the incident.