Elderly care facility Attent Zorg en Behandeling suffers a ransomware attack

Attent Zorg en Behandeling, a Gelderland-based elderly care facility in the Netherlands that has a total of around 1450 employees and 500 volunteers, suffered a ransomware attack by the notorious Qilin ransomware group in February, which led to the breach of passport information belonging to former and current doctors, nurses, psychologists and physiotherapists.

The attack occurred on February 17, causing technical difficulties for the facility. The attack made the internal IT, e-mail, and telephone systems inaccessible. The care institution said the hackers had gained unauthorized access to their network.

In a statement, Attent Zorg en Behandeling reported that a significant portion of the affected systems had been restored three days after the attack. The facility resumed its telephone services and regained access to its client dossier, financial, and personnel systems by February 20.

The Qilin group claimed it used an unpatched vulnerability to gain entry into the facility’s systems and access hundreds of gigabytes of data, including confidential internal communication, salary statements, and non-disclosure agreements. The group threatened to release the data unless the facility paid a ransom.

The group recently published a sample of the stolen information on its website on the dark web. A total of 74 documents have been leaked, and they contain copies of passports, salary slips, non-disclosure agreements, and confidential internal communications.