[ad_1]
Ireland has refused to pay a bitcoin ransom to hackers who forced the shutdown of most of its healthcare computer systems, leaving doctors unable to access patient records and patients are unsure whether they should show up for appointments.
“The bailout has been sought and will not be paid in accordance with state policy,” a spokeswoman for the Irish Health Service executive told the Financial Times on Friday evening, confirming reports that he had sought redemption in the cryptocurrency.
Paul Reid, chief executive of the Irish Health Service Executive, told a morning radio show that the decision to shut down the systems was a “preventive” measure following a “very sophisticated” cyberattack that it affected national and local systems and “involved in all our basic services”.
Some elements of the Irish health service remain operational, such as clinical systems and their Covid-19 vaccination program, which operates on separate infrastructures. The already booked Covid tests are also advancing.
However, the system for processing referrals from GPs and close contacts has collapsed, HSE posted on Twitter, adding that those who need to be tested should go to centers of interest that prioritize symptomatic cases.
“This is having a severe impact on our health and social care services, but individual services and hospital groups are being affected in different ways. Emergency services continue, as is the @AmbulanceNAS [the National Ambulance Service]”Health Minister Stephen Donnelly wrote on Twitter.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, although Reid said Friday morning that it was “Conti, a human-operated ransomware,” referring to the type of software used. Conti was first detected in December 2019 and hackers believed to be headquartered in Russia or Eastern Europe typically demand an average ransom of $ 240,000 according to an investigation by Arete Advisors.
“We are in the early stages of fully understanding the threat, the impact and trying to contain it,” said Reid, who added that they were receiving help from Irish police, defense forces and third-party cyber-assistance teams.
The HSE Twitter feed includes a long list of hospital updates on which services are canceled, including services such as non-radiological radiotherapy, X-rays, physiotherapy, and cardiac diagnostic services. Some of the cancellations run until Monday.
The Dublin Rotary Maternity teacher said she was advising patients under 36 weeks pregnant not to attend appointments on Friday. In a statement, Cork University Hospital said patients should come for outpatient consultations, chemotherapy and surgery “unless you are contacted to cancel”, but appointments were canceled. X-ray and radiation therapy for Friday.
Professor Donal O’Shea, an endocrinologist consultant at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, told RTE radio that there could be implications for patient care. “Clinical systems have not been targeted, but if you can not access the computer, it is impossible to get results. . . so, in a short time, there will be clinical implications, “he said. In its statement, Cork University Hospital said” only emergency blood would be processed “at this time.
Reid said patients nationwide “should show up until they hear something different.”
Health workers told the FT they had been told close their laptops, leaving staff at home offline and those working in hospitals returning to paper and pen to manage patient information.
In a statement On its website, the Irish agency Tusla, for children and families, said its emails, internal systems and portal for child protection referrals were also offline because they were hosted on the HSE network. .
The attack comes as the actions of cybercriminals to disrupt public services have increased during the pandemic. Earlier this month, hackers believed to be from Eastern Europe breached the company’s hacking systems. Colonial Conduct, a major fuel pipeline that supplies much of the eastern United States.
“Opportunistic cyber attackers targeting flooded health organizations have been a common theme throughout the pandemic,” said Charlie Smith, a solutions engineer at Barracuda Networks. “These scammers are aware of the great importance of health services computer systems at the moment and therefore will not stop at anything to disrupt these systems or steal valuable data in exchange for a ransom.”
Additional reports from Hannah Murphy in San Francisco
[ad_2]
Source link
