Ransomware is known to have serious consequences, but one of the latest attacks might have been fatal. BBC News reports (via MIT Technology Review) that prosecutors in Cologne, Germany have launched a negligent homicide investigation after a Düsseldorf University Hospital patient died following a ransomware incident. The attack hampered emergency services on September 9th, forcing healthcare workers to send the patient to a hospital 19 miles away for vital treatment.
Local media claim the hackers were targeting a different university and didn’t mean to compromise the hospital. They reportedly provided the ransomware decryption key for free once they realized their mistake.