Cyber attack forces HSE to shut down IT systems

The HSE is still coming to terms with the ransomware cyber attack that took place earlier today.

At the moment no ransomware demand has been found but it looks like it’s only a matter before it surfaces. The cyberattack honed in on the HSE’s IT system affecting patient’s healthcare records.

Earlier today HSE CEO Paul Reid, told RTE News how serious it is.

The cyber attack is believed to have started at 4:30 am this morning, which resulted in IT systems been switched off as a precautionary measure as they tried to figure out what they are dealing with.

What has been affected?

The online portal for booking vaccine appointments is currently unavailable and you have to call HSELive on 1850 24 1850 to register. All current vaccination appointments are still going ahead as normal. Those awaiting COVID-19 test results will face a slight delay in receiving their results.

Because of the cyber attack, the HSE system that GP’s use to refer patients with COVID-19 symptoms is currently offline. Some cancer treatments, maternity appointments and other appointments have also been cancelled.

Emergency departments are still open for all medical emergencies, but expect delays, and you should only attend in an emergency.

The three hospitals below have been impacted:

Rotunda Maternity Hospital

All appointments have been cancelled expect those for women who are at least 36 weeks pregnant or emergencies.

Cork University Hospital

Radiotherapy and most x-ray appointments have been cancelled, resulting in only emergency blood samples being sent to labs. The hospital will contact people whose appointments have been cancelled.

Tipperary University Hospital

Some appointments have been cancelled, and affected patients are being contacted and advised of whether they are affected.

Cybersecurity company Extrahop, are experts in network detection and response and provide Paypal, Adobe and CNN complete visibility across their enterprises. Jamie Moles, one of their Senior Security Engineers commented:

“This isn’t the first instance of a hospital having to cancel services due to a ransomware attack. In January 2017 St Barts Hospital in East London was hit by Ransomware and had to shut down systems.

“A freedom of information act just the month prior had shown that 90% of UK NHS trusts were still running Windows XP and were struggling to move away from legacy systems that were vulnerable to attacks. It’s not unreasonable to assume that the Irish are having similar issues as many of the constraints preventing upgrades are due to compliance restrictions.

“Irish health service funding this year has soared to 22 billion Euros – largely due to the pandemic – but this will mostly be spent on triaging patients not triaging IT Security problems. However, ransomware attacks can be fatal for patients too.

“Only a few months ago, the first death associated with ransomware occurred in Germany, as an ambulance was redirected to another hospital which delayed the patient’s treatment by an hour. The patient sadly died shortly after.

Until investment is made in protecting IT Infrastructure these problems will continue to plague national healthcare providers worldwide. Healthcare systems need to keep up the momentum of IT improvements required for Covid related issues and harness it to progress from their current state”

Earlier this afternoon the HSE released an update on their website which you can read here.