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Russian man linked to deadly London hospitals hack arrested
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German police have detained a Russian man accused of being part of a cyber-crime gang which caused chaos at London hospitals and contributed to a patient's death.
Key facts
- He is accused of being one of the core members of the Qilin cyber-crime gang
- which has allegedly hacked more than 4,000 organisations since 2024 and extorted more than $140m (£105m) from victims
- Vladimir K was wanted in Germany for hacking into a logistics company in September 2024, encrypting data on its systems and extorting it for around $160,000 in cryptocurrency
- In total, the Synnovis hack in 2024 disrupted more than 10,000 appointments and caused weeks of disruption
- A critical incident was declared at some London hospitals after the provider was targeted by Qilin on 3 June 2024, with blood transfusion services severely disrupted, operations cancelled
Summary
The hack of blood testing company Synnovis in 2024 led to disrupted pathology services across several London hospitals and was the first cyber attack in history to be directly linked to a death. The BBC can confirm German detectives are now including the incident in their investigation into the detained Russian and his associates. Separately, the BBC has learned that British police are examining whether its own inquiry may lead to an unlawful killing case - potentially a world first in cyber-crime. The detained suspect is a 28-year-old Russian man named by German press as Vladimir K.