Hackers have turned their sights on one of the UK's most well-known health charities earlier this week, it has been revealed, in an attempt to extort money by locking their systems.
St John Ambulance, a charity that specialises in first aid delivery and training, said that on 2 July at 9.00am it was hit by a ransomware attack.
In a statement emailed to customers and posted to its website, the organisation said the incident only lasted an hour and while it was temporarily blocked from accessing certain booking information the charity is "confident that data has not been shared outside St John Ambulance".
"The only data that has been affected relates to our training course delivery. It does not cover supplies, events, ambulance operations, volunteering, volunteer, data, employee data, clinical data or patient data," it said.
It also told customers: "You don't need to take any immediate action. However, if you work for one of our corporate customers, please pass this email on to the person in your organisation who is responsible for data protection."
St John Ambulance also noted it's followed its legal obligation to inform the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and has also contacted the Charity Commission and the police.
Independent security analyst Graham Cluley said in a blog post: "My reading of this is that St John Ambulance did not have to pay hackers a ransom to recover access to the encrypted data, but instead were able to put in place emergency recovery plans to restore from unaffected backup systems. That's in marked contrast to ransomware attacks that have hit American cities in recent weeks which have resulted in extortionists being paid over a million dollars.
"The news that St John Ambulance had calmly resolved the incident within half an hour seems pretty impressive to me, and together with the transparency they show in their disclosure will hopefully reassure those who deal with the charity. If only all organisations and companies could put themselves in a recovery position so confidently."
-
Ransomware attacks are rising — but quiet payouts could mean there's more than actually reportedNews Ransomware attacks continue to climb, but they may be even higher than official figures show as companies choose to quietly pay to make such incidents go away.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen – and security experts say it won't be the lastNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackersNews Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
Healthcare systems are rife with exploits — and ransomware gangs have noticedNews Nearly nine-in-ten healthcare organizations have medical devices that are vulnerable to exploits, and ransomware groups are taking notice.
-
Alleged LockBit developer extradited to the USNews A Russian-Israeli man has been extradited to the US amid accusations of being a key LockBit ransomware developer.
-
February was the worst month on record for ransomware attacks – and one threat group had a field day
News February 2025 was the worst month on record for the number of ransomware attacks, according to new research from Bitdefender.
-
CISA issues warning over Medusa ransomware after 300 victims from critical sectors impactedNews The Medusa ransomware as a Service operation compromised twice as many organizations at the start of 2025 compared to 2024
-
Warning issued over prolific 'Ghost' ransomware groupNews The Ghost ransomware group is known to act fast and exploit vulnerabilities in public-facing appliances
