Hackers behind cyber attack ordered by judge to return stolen NHS patient data Barking and Dagenham Post

pHackers responsible for a cyber attack that led to more than 10000 NHS appointments being cancelled have been ordered by a High Court judge to unmask themselves and return or delete stolen datappPathology services provider Synnovis was targeted by Russian cyber gang Qilin on June 3 with hackers reportedly obtaining confidential medical information and blood test results of more than 100000 patients the court was toldppThe ransomware attack saw appointments cancelled at two London NHS trusts and prompted a warning that parts of the NHSs IT system are out of date and at risk of further attacksppIn a written ruling on Thursday Mrs Justice Stacey said she had granted Synnoviss bid for an interim injunction seeking to prevent the release of stolen datappThe judges temporary order against persons unknown requires the hackers to provide their full names and addresses to allow for legal documents to be served on themppMrs Justice Stacey also said it was plainly just and convenient for the order to include a prohibition preventing further unauthorised access of the claimants IT systems by the defendants a socalled antihacking injunction to help prevent more attacksppSynnoviss case was considered at a hearing in London last month which the judge said was held in private due to discussions over the theft of confidential highly personal medical informationppThe BBC has reported that the Qilin gang has carried out criminal hacks for extortion purposes of a range of public and private services and companies since 2022 the judge was toldppAfter the Synnovis cyber attack which saw a ransom note left on its IT systems Qilin told the broadcaster it took responsibilityppThe information obtained was the commercially sensitive private and confidential medical records of patients at the Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust and Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust the court was toldppSome data was released via the Telegram messaging platform on June 20 while a post of information and a statement was published on a website called Wikileaksv2 on June 27ppTelegram had not responded to a request to remove information while Wikileaksv2 is feared to be a clone site under the control of hackers the judge heardppMrs Justice Stacey said there was a real risk that further unauthorised damaging disclosures could be madeppThe defendants have come into possession of the claimants confidential information or property through criminal and unlawful actions the judge addedppIt has done so for the purpose of commercial gain It is engaging in extortionppThe claimant has established that publication of the information should not be allowed and that its use should be restrictedppThe judge continued I am also satisfied that the defendants must identify themselves their actions appear unlawful and it appears that they are seeking to hide their identity behind a cloak of anonymity and an organisation Qilin which has no legal identityppAccording to the BBC Qilin shared almost 400GB of data including patient names dates of birth NHS numbers and descriptions of blood tests on its darknet site and Telegram channelppEarlier this month NHS England London said a total of 10001 acute outpatient appointments and 1680 elective procedures had been cancelled across the two trustsppIt said more than 60 IT systems used in laboratories have been rebuilt or are in the process of being rebuilt with capacity increasingpp
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