The recent attacks on U.S. hospitals and health system websites by Russian hacking group Killnet aren't likely to cause downgrade ratings for non-for-profit hospitals and health systems, according to a Feb. 3 report from Fitch.
On Jan. 28, KillNet claimed to have taken down multiple hospital and health system websites across the U.S. and allegedly posted global health and personal information belonging to global health organizations on its Killnet list.
According to Fitch, this attack was the most widespread and coordinated attack against the healthcare sector date, with 20 hospitals reporting that they had been affected by it.
Although it appears that no personal healthcare information or data was compromised in this widespread attack, Fitch says the campaign deployed by KillNet highlights the increased risk hacking groups are posing to the U.S. healthcare industry.
Fitch said that although this attack is unlikely to drive any downgrades to hospitals and health systems, these "attacks highlight the growing risks and capabilities of threat actors who could cause greater harm through more malicious attacks that affect healthcare delivery."
According to the HHS, KillNet uses DDoS campaigns, which can cause website outages that can last for several hours or days.
Although DDoS are not expected to have any financial or operational effect on targeted hospitals, they are aimed at compromising service which in turn could affect a hospital’s financial profile and could negatively affect ratings.