Several major hospitals in London have been hit by a cyber attack that has caused surgeries to be cancelled, blood transfusions to be disrupted and forced the transfer of patients, the National Health Service (NHS) said.
Britain's National Health Service (NHS) said on Monday that a ransomware cyberattack on Synnovis, the group responsible for blood transfusions and other services, had severely disrupted services at King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital Trusts, which run several large hospitals. The attack also caused disruptions to primary care offices in London.
“We sincerely regret the inconvenience this has caused to the patient and his family,” the health services department said on Tuesday, adding that urgent care services remain available.
Synnovis CEO Mark Dollar said Tuesday that the company is working to understand and minimize the impact of the attack on its pathology services. “It is still early days and we are working to understand exactly what happened,” he said in a statement.
Ciaran Martin, the UK's former cybersecurity chief, told BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday that a Russian cybercrime group called “Kirin” was likely behind the attack.
“This is more serious ransomware, the systems simply don't work properly,” Mr Martin said. “If you work in healthcare at this trust you can't get these results, so this is actually wreaking havoc.”
The attack highlights cybersecurity risks for the NHS, which has been criticized for using outdated software that is vulnerable to malware and ransomware. Just weeks ago, cybercriminals attacked an NHS trust in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, gaining access to Large amounts of patient databut appointments and other medical services there have not been interrupted.
The biggest attack on the NHS was 2017 WannaCry attacka ransomware attack affected nearly 100 organizations in the country, including more than a third of NHS trusts. The health service was forced to cancel nearly 20,000 hospital appointments and surgeries and divert patients from five emergency departments that could not treat them. Last year, the North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust also suffered a ransomware attack, according to a report by the UK National Audit Office.
The UK government said last year that the NHS Be better prepared Ransomware attacks are occurring at a higher rate than in 2017, with 21 million malicious emails blocked each month. Last year, the government set out a new strategy it said would help protect the health service by 2030, including providing cybersecurity training for its staff.
Recovering from a cyberattack can take weeks or months. Attack on the British LibraryThe country's national library, in late October, Blocking academics from accessing their online systemsThe criminal group also stole data and later tried to auction it off online.
Eight months on, the British Library, whose collection includes two of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta, is still recovering from the attack. It says other organisations hit by similar attacks have taken more than a year to fully resume operations.
