UK Hospital Cyber Attack Impacts Delivery of Health Services

LONDON (AP) — A large cyberattack crippled computer systems at hospitals across England on Friday, with appointments canceled, phone lines down and patients turned away. Britain's National Health Service said hospitals across England were hit by an apparent "ransomware" attack, but there was no immediate evidence that patient data had been accessed. NHS Digital, which oversees hospital cybersecurity, says the attack used the Wanna Decryptor variant of malware, which holds affected computers hostage while the attackers demand a ransom. Pictures posted on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of $300 worth of the online currency Bitcoin, saying: "Ooops, your files have been encrypted!" NHS Digital said the attack "was not specifically targeted at the NHS and is affecting organizations from across a range of sectors." It said 16 NHS organizations had reported being hit. Spain, meanwhile, said several Spanish companies had been targeted in ransomware cyberattack that affected the Windows operating system of employees' computers. It did not say which companies were targeted but telecommunications company Telefonica said it had detected a cybersecurity incident that had affected computers of some employees. In the U.K., hospitals in London, northwest England and other parts of the country reported problems and asked patients not to come to the hospitals unless it was an emergency. There were no reported problems i...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: News Operations Source Type: news