June 5, 2024 at 06:00AM
Several London hospitals faced disruptions as a cyberattack on Synnovis, a pathology services supplier, led to canceled operations and patient rejections. The ransomware attack affected IT systems, including pathology services and blood transfusions, impacting King’s College, Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital trusts. The National Health Service is urgently addressing the situation with support from cybersecurity specialists.
Key takeaways from the meeting notes:
– Several London hospitals had to cancel operations and send patients away due to a cyberattack on a company that supplies pathology laboratory services.
– The company, Synnovis, confirmed that it was hit with a ransomware attack, which affected all of its IT systems and resulted in interruptions to many pathology services.
– The National Health Service reported a significant impact at various hospital trusts, clinics, and doctors’ practices across the city, with blood transfusions being particularly affected.
– NHS England London region is working urgently to understand the impact of the incident with the support of the government’s National Cyber Security Centre and their cyber operations team.
– The ransomware attack had a major disruptive effect on patients, with one individual, Oliver Dowson, being prepared for an operation but told it would not happen, and many others being sent home without clear information.
– Ransomware attacks are noted as the costliest and most disruptive form of cybercrime, difficult to combat as most gangs are based in former Soviet states and out of reach of Western justice.
– There has been a historical precedent of ransomware attacks affecting Britain’s state-funded health system, including a 2017 attack that caused widespread disruptions to hospital operations across the country.