Feds warn against pro-Russian hackers targeting healthcare: 5 things to know

The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center issued a brief Jan. 30 warning the healthcare sector about the hacktivist group 'KillNet,' which is known for attacking and targeting the U.S. healthcare industry. 

Five things to know about the cybergroup, according to HHS:

1. KillNet is a pro-Russian hacktivist group.
   
   
2. The group has been around since January 2022.
   
   
3. The group uses DDOS campaigns. These campaigns can cause thousands of connection requests and packets to be sent to target servers or websites per minute, eventually slowing down or stopping systems.
   
   
4. These tactics don't usually cause major damage, yet the outages from these attacks can last hours or even days, according to the HHS.
   
   
5. The group has previously targeted the U.S. Congress, U.S.-based healthcare organizations and the U.K. Ministry of Health.