B2 – Upper Intermediate
Cyberattacks have become a prevalent threat in today’s digital age. These malicious acts target individuals, organizations, and even governments, causing significant damage and disruption. From data breaches to ransomware attacks, cyber criminals are constantly evolving their tactics to exploit vulnerabilities in technology systems.
One of the most concerning aspects of cyber attacks is the potential for widespread impact. A single attack can compromise sensitive information, disrupt critical infrastructure, and lead to financial losses.
Check out the article to find out how a cyberattack affects a hospital.
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “cripple” mean? “A ransomware cyberattack on one of Barcelona’s main hospitals has crippled the centre’s computer system and forced the cancellation of 150 non-urgent operations and up to 3,000 patient checkups.” Give two (2) synonyms or similar expressions and use ‘cripple’ in your own sentence.
- What is the meaning of “contingency plan”? “He said the hospital’s contingency plan would allow them to function for several days, but he hoped the system would be fixed sooner.” Give two (2) synonyms or similar expressions and use ‘contingency plan’ in your own sentence.
- What does “to cut off access” mean? “Spanish state news agency EFE said the attack cut off access to patients records.” Give two (2) synonyms or similar expressions and use ‘to cut off access’ in your own sentence.
Discussion Questions:
- What is your reaction/thoughts on this news?
- Have you heard any news regarding cyberattacks, or has your company ever been a victim of one? Tell me the story.
- What do you think could be stolen from you by a cybercriminal?
- How important is cybersecurity? Do you believe that you are secured online? Share.
- What question would you like to ask a hacker?
4 replies on “Cyberattack on Major Barcelona Hospital”
1. Cripple: Stop, detain. When I went to work there were a lot of cars crippled and I spent two hours to arrive.
2. Contingency plan: plan to know how to act when unexpected events happen. The companies used to create this kind of plan to be able to mitigate risks if unexpected event happens. Thanks to contingency plan Airbus avoid loosing more money and they can pay their employess.
3. To cut off access: Prevent, stop. Patients could not access to records due to the attack. I could not book my gym class because an error cut off access to booking timetable.
1. Nowadays, technology is evolving very quickly and it is necesarry to be very conscious when you navigate. It is necessary to read carefullly every option that you accept to avoid technlogy risk that can affect to you own privacy.
2. We have a lot of courses related to cyberattack to avoid this kind of situation. Furthermore, I work with confidential documents and to have an error can have great consequences. For example, one year ago my father received one call from microsoft to connect to his computer and they want to steal his bank keys.
3. Money. Private photographs. Passwords.
4. Very important. I feel that if you are conscious you should not have problems. It could be more bored to read carefully every thing that you do in the Web, but it is a great deal of secure.
5. Is it possible to hack one device without interacting with his/her owner? I think that hackers always need that owners make a mistake to be able to hack something. Without owners interaction they cannot do anything because Web is more secure than we think.
Interesting thoughts about this topic. Thanks for sharing them.
Here is how to revise this sentence to improve it a little more:
Good job. Keep it up!
Vocabulary Questions:
1. Mutilate or disable something. That goal cripples the team’s hope of winning.
2. Emergency plan or disaster plan. Everyone needs a contingency plan in the current state of the world
3. Prohibit access or block access. The government cut off access to the village due to an increase in the number of cases of covid.
Discussion Questions:
1. It seems normal to me, here in Spain the government does not spend the necessary money to have the correct countermeasures to this type of attacks.
2. Yes, I often read cybersecurity news because it helps me in my work to be informed of real cases and how attacks have been carried out, to help my clients protect themselves.
3. Any kind of information, from personal data such as name and address to passwords and emails. The problem is that many websites have a lot of information about us, so no matter how hard we try to protect our information, if they attack those pages they can get it.
4. Right now, that we spend a lot of time connected, it’s one of the most important things. I don’t think we will ever be completely safe.
5. I work as a cybersecurity consultant, is like a good hacker, so, as i think like a hacker I don’t have any questions.
Good job expressing your thoughts on this topic.
Take a look at how you can improve this sentence a little:
Until your next entries!