A cyber attack on the “BIG direct healthy” health insurance company has caused the company to shut down its systems, rendering it unavailable to its insured customers for several days. While external signs suggest a cyber attack – possibly with ransomware – the health insurance company has refused to confirm this on request and speaks of “unauthorized access” to their systems. The affected systems are slowly being put back into operation, with priority being given to the payment of benefits.
The health insurance company reported the incident to investigating authorities and the responsible supervisory authorities, and called in external IT experts. The incident may be related to the cyber attack on the IT service provider, Materna, which was also discovered at the end of March. The full extent of the attack on Materna is yet to be seen, but individual system failures, such as those in air traffic, have been traced back to the attack.
Other companies have also been affected by cyber attacks, including the transport company in Hanover, Üstra, and Western Digital. A survey by the security provider Nord Security revealed that there were 2,263 ransomware attacks worldwide last year, with 96 occurring in Germany. Nord Security attributes these attacks to a total of twenty ransomware groups, with Lockbit and Conti being among the most active.
