vicesociety attacks Medical University of Innsbruck
Vice Society Targets Medical University of Innsbruck
The ransomware group Vice Society has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on the Medical University of Innsbruck, which was first reported on June 20, 2022. The attack caused severe IT service disruption and allegedly resulted in the theft of data from the university. The Medical University of Innsbruck is a research university with 3,400 students and 2,200 employees, offering extensive medical care services, including surgeries.
The university disclosed an IT outage on June 20, 2022, restricting access to online servers and computer systems. In the days that followed, the university gradually restored its online services and returned operations to its main site, which had previously been taken offline. However, the university has only mentioned that they were attacked but did not provide any further details in their published statements.
Vice Society added the Medical University of Innsbruck to its data leak site, leaking an extensive list of documents allegedly stolen during the cyberattack. A limited review of the leaked data confirms that they appear genuine and have the university's letterhead, lecturer signatures, and other authenticity elements. The group typically uses a countdown timer to extort a newly announced victim before publishing files, but in this case, the hackers posted all data a full week after the attack occurred, which could mean that the negotiations for a ransom payment have reached a dead end or never took place.
Vice Society has been targeting European organizations lately, focusing specifically on state/public entities and educational institutes. The group has also victimized a college in the UK and a hospital in Italy. The Medical University of Innsbruck is the fifth disclosed European victim of Vice Society in the past month.
The Medical University of Innsbruck is a significant player in the healthcare sector, with a strong focus on research and medical care services. The university's vulnerabilities in being targeted by threat actors are not explicitly mentioned in the available sources. However, the attack highlights the importance of robust cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive data and maintain IT services in the healthcare sector.
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