NHS Scotland allegedly had 3TB of data stolen

NHS Scotland, a publicly funded healthcare system, has been claimed by a prominent ransomware cartel.

Cybercriminal gang INC Ransom recently posted NHS Scotland on its dark web blog, used to showcase the gang’s latest victims.

The attackers claim they’ve stolen a whopping three terabytes of data from the public healthcare system, which serves 5.4 million residents of Scotland.

We’ve reached out to NHS Scotland for comment but have yet to receive a reply.

As evidence of the attack, the gang attached several allegedly stolen documents, including hospital reports, email conversations, clinical reports, document scans, and other sensitive information from various Scotland-based healthcare institutions.

NHS Scotland is a publicly funded healthcare system in Scotland, one of the four systems that make up the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). NHS Scotland employs nearly 160,000 staff and has a yearly budget exceeding $19 billion.

Earlier this month, attackers breached NHS Scotland’s Dumfries and Galloway health board, one of 14 boards that make up the Scottish public healthcare system.

INC Ransom was first noted in July 2023. The gang is considered a multi-extortion operation – which means it not only encrypts and steals its target’s data but then threatens to publish it online if the victim doesn’t pay up.

It appears to target a varied number of industry sectors at random, including attacks on the healthcare, education, and government sectors.

According to Ransomlooker, Cybernews’ ransomware monitoring tool, INC Ransom has victimized at least 65 organizations over the last 12 months.