We’ve talked a lot about how while the lack of security in Internet of Things devices was kind of funny at first, this kind of apathy towards privacy and security in everyday technology isn’t a laughing matter. Whether it’s cars being taken over from an IP address up to ten miles away, to the rise in massive new DDoS attacks fueled by your not-so-smart home appliances, security experts have spent the better part of the decade warning us the check for our apathy on this front is coming due.
Last weekend, Universal Health Services, with more than 400 locations in the United States, was hit by one of the biggest ransomware attacks in U.S. history. As a result, the hospital chain was forced to resort to using pens and paper to manage patients after their computer systems ground completely to a halt.
Such attacks usually come on the weekend when the hospitals are short staffed, and the results usually aren’t pretty.
