Qilin Ransomware: A Growing Cyber Threat

Cybersecurity Alert: Qilin Ransomware Group Wreaks Havoc on NHS

As of February 3, 2025, the Qilin ransomware group continues to pose significant threats to various sectors, with recent developments highlighting their evolving tactics and the substantial impact of their attacks.

Financial Impact on Synnovis

In June 2024, Qilin targeted Synnovis, a laboratory services provider for the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). The attack resulted in the publication of nearly 400GB of sensitive healthcare data online, causing widespread disruption in London hospitals and leading to the cancellation or delay of thousands of operations and appointments. Financial reports revealed that the incident cost Synnovis approximately £32.7 million, significantly surpassing its 2023 profits of £4.3 million.
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Credential Theft from Chrome Browsers

In August 2024, cybersecurity firm Sophos reported that Qilin had adopted a new tactic of stealing credentials stored in Google Chrome browsers. The attackers gained initial access through compromised VPN credentials lacking multi-factor authentication. They then used Group Policy Objects to deploy a PowerShell script across the network, extracting a large number of credentials from Chrome browsers on multiple endpoints.