Killnet Threatens To Shut Down Hospital Ventilators, After London Arrest

Russian hackers have reportedly threatened to shut down UK hospital ventilators, after a member of their cyber crime gang was arrested in London.

The Sun newspaper reported that officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA), and officers from Romania, raided an address in London and arrested a suspected member of the Russian hacking group Killnet.

The suspect is thought to have assisted Killnet’s attacks last week against Romanian institutions, in retribution for that country supporting Ukraine in the war with Russia.

NCA arrest

Indeed, Killnet claimed responsibility for those denial of service attacks (DDoS) that impacted the official Romanian government website and the defence ministry.

Also targetted were Romanian political parties, cultural organisations and companies.

The UK’s National Crime Agency confirmed to Silicon UK, that that a 23-year old man had been arrested in Tottenham.

“National Crime Agency officers arrested a 23-year-old man in Tottenham, North London, on 2 May for offences under the Serious Crime Act 2007, as part of an international cybercrime operation,” an NCA spokesperson told Silicon UK.

“He has since been released under investigation,” the NCA spokesperson added.

According to the Sun newspaper, the social networking account of the arrested suspect has previously expressed his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Indeed, his Facebook posts are allegedly emblazoned with Russian flags and the letter “Z”, the invasion symbol found on Russian tanks.

Ventilator threat

Following the NCA arrest, the leader of Russia’s Killnet reportedly claimed in a Telegram post that the arrested suspect had nothing to do with their action.

But despite that, the Killnet leader then threatened to target NHS ventilators if the suspect was not released within 48 hours, despite the fact that the suspect had already been released under investigation.

“If he is not released within 48 hours I will destroy your Romania, Great Britain and Moldova,” the post says, according to the Sun newspaper.

“I will destroy your entire information structure and even your Ministry of Health,” the post adds. “All ventilators will be attacked. Only then will you begin to realise the mistake you have made.”

The post was signed off with a black heart emoji beside a Russian flag.