Critical South African healthcare services hacked

pMyBroadbandppThe National Health Laboratory Service NHLS has shut down its IT systems following a breach over the weekendppIts emails website and system for retrieving and storing patients lab test results are offlineppBased on a memo from NHLS chief executive officer Prof Koleka Mlisana the intrusion caused damage suggesting the NHLS suffered a ransomware infection or similarly destructive attackppRansomware attacks typically involve encrypting the victims data and extorting them for a decryption keyppAttackers also often exfiltrate sensitive data and threaten to leak it online unless you payppThe NHLS is South Africas diagnostic pathology service for public healthcare facilities comprising a network of 265 laboratoriesppIt was created in 2001 by merging several institutions into a single entityppIts subsidiaries and divisions include the National Institute for Communicable Diseases the National Institute for Occupational Health the National Cancer Registry and the South African Vaccine ProducersppSouth Africa is currently in the midst of a Mpox outbreak In March the NHLS was also still facing a significant backlog in toxicology testsppNHLS staff were informed about the attack in Mlisanas memoppI regret to inform you that our IT systems are unavailable due to a suspected incident that occurred over the weekend Mlisana statedppThis incident compromised the security of our IT infrastructure We are treating this matter with extreme urgency and concernppMlisana said they have deployed their Incident Response Team to handle the issueppThis team is working around the clock to determine the scope of the intrusion and deploy the required safeguards to secure our systems and data she saidppFortunately our Oracle environment and Trakcare database are not affected but the entire environment has been shut down to prevent further damageppMlisana said she appreciated that the news may raise concernsppPlease rest assured that our priority focus is on data security We are determined to solve this issue swiftly and transparently she saidppWe will provide you with regular updates as we learn more about the compromise and our continuing response activitiesppIn response to the attack the NHLS has implemented its Downtime Protocol to ensure the necessary resources are made available to address the situationppI want to take this opportunity to thank you in advance as we all put in our efforts to ensure that disruption to our services is minimised said MlisanappShe said they must prioritise patients samples and processing with results directly communicated to clinicians whenever urgent as well as printed and distributed manuallyppThe NHLS falls under the National Department of Health and a spokesperson for the department told MyBroadband they had been informed about the incidentppThey are working around the clock to address it and have called for patience as they are working to resolve this the Department of Health saidppHeadline National Cancer Registry National Health Laboratory Service NHLS National Institute for Communicable Diseases NICD National Institute for Occupational Health NIOH South African Vaccine Producers SAVPppComments section policy MyBroadband has a new article comments policy which aims to encourage constructive discussions To get your comments published make sure it is civil and adds value to the discussionppppppWhich is your goto online retailer for tech productsppppView Resultsp