The chief operating officer of an Atlanta-based cybersecurity start-up has been charged with a 2018 ransomware attack on a Georgia hospital at a time when US companies and organizations are being hit with a rash of such attacks. He entered a preliminary plea of guilty with a federal court, pending sentencing.
According to the Associated Press, Vikas Singla, the 45-year-old COO of Securolytics, was charged with 17 counts of intentional damage to a protected computer and one count of obtaining information from a protected computer.
The attack allegedly undertaken by Singla caused disruption to the hospital’s phone systems and printer systems, and taking information from the hospital’s digital systems.
“Cyberattacks that target important infrastructure, like healthcare, pose a serious threat to public health and safety,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine in a statement. “In this case, Singla allegedly compromised Gwinnett Medical Center’s operations in part for his own personal gain.”