Update: British NHS Confirms A Damaging Software Attack

A cyber attack has hit systems used by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), affecting services across all four of the UK’s nations. The attack targeted the system used to refer patients for care, including ambulances being dispatched. The incident disrupted NHS 111, the helpline for medical advice, along with systems used to dispatch ambulances, make out-of-hours appointments and issue emergency prescriptions.

It is now emerging that the attack has also affected Adastra, the clinical patient management software supplied to the NHS by the healthcare software & services firm, Advanced, and this aspect of the attack is leaving many clinical services disrupted, including access to confidential patient notes. 

This incident is clearly more extensive than first thought to be and some patient information and data will not be available online for weeks

People seeking medical help via these service are being warned of delays due to a “major” computer system outage caused by the attack. It affected the phone service and referrals to out-of-hours GPs. NHS staff across the UK have been left using pens and paper after the attack and staff have been told that the loss of access to online services could continue for as long as three weeks, raising safety issues for urgent cases.  

The origins of this attack are unknown at present, however similar large scale attacks in Ireland, New Zealand, Israel and the US raise concerns over criminal intent to extort ransom to restore services, or even the malicious actions hostile nation-state hackers. 

The National Crime Agency said it was "aware of a cyber incident" and was working with Advanced. "A security issue was identified yesterday, which resulted in loss of service," said Advanced COO Simon Short. "We can confirm that the incident is related to a cyber attack and as a precaution, we immediately isolated all our health and care environments. Early intervention from our Incident Response Team contained this issue to a small number of servers representing 2% of our Health & Care infrastructure."

Family doctors in London were warned by NHS England they could see an increased number of patients sent to them by NHS 111 due to the severe technical issue. It said a letter to GPs in the capital stated the problem was affecting the electronic referral process for patients.

It’s feared disruption could drive patients to overstretched accident and emergency departments and this was the case last week when the Isle of Wight NHS Trust declared a critical incident in response to ‘sustained pressure’ on its A&E services. 

"The ongoing outage is significant and has been far reaching, impacting each of the four nations in the UK." an NHS England spokesman said. “There is currently minimal disruption and the NHS will continue to monitor the situation as it works with Advanced to resolve their software system as quickly as possible, tried and tested contingency plans are in place for local areas who use this service.” 

Deryck Mitchelson, Field CISO at Check Point, and former NHS Scotland CISO, commented: “Healthcare now has such a dependency on digital technology from electronic health records, scheduling and admissions to scanners, x-rays, and laboratories, that an outage can have a direct impact on the life and death of patients. As the NHS recovers from the Covid-19 emergency footing, it is now at its most vulnerable to cyber attack."

HSToday:     ITPro:    BBC:      PulseTodayGuardian:    Independent:     Metro:     STV     LBC:     Digit:   

Infosecurity Magazine:  

You Might Also Read: 

A Hospital Hack Caused A Patient To Die:

 

« Unexplained Surge In Robotext Scams
Building a Threat-Ready Ransomware Response Plan »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Perimeter 81 / How to Select the Right ZTNA Solution

Perimeter 81 / How to Select the Right ZTNA Solution

Gartner insights into How to Select the Right ZTNA offering. Download this FREE report for a limited time only.

LockLizard

LockLizard

Locklizard provides PDF DRM software that protects PDF documents from unauthorized access and misuse. Share and sell documents securely - prevent document leakage, sharing and piracy.

BackupVault

BackupVault

BackupVault is a leading provider of automatic cloud backup and critical data protection against ransomware, insider attacks and hackers for businesses and organisations worldwide.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

IT Governance

IT Governance

IT Governance is a leading global provider of information security solutions. Download our free guide and find out how ISO 27001 can help protect your organisation's information.

eSentire

eSentire

eSentire is the authority in Managed Detection and Response Services, protecting the critical data and applications of organizations from known and unknown cyber threats.

Logicalis

Logicalis

Logicalis are a leading provider of global IT solutions and managed services.

CERT Polska

CERT Polska

CERT Polska is the first Polish computer emergency response team and operates within the structures of NASK (Research and Academic Computer Network) research institute.

Hillstone Networks

Hillstone Networks

Hillstone Networks offers a broad range of security solutions for enterprises and data center networks – whether physical, virtual, or in the cloud.

Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing & Analysis Center (RH-ISAC)

Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing & Analysis Center (RH-ISAC)

Retail & Hospitality ISAC operates as a central hub for sharing sector-specific cyber security information and intelligence.

Comarch

Comarch

Comarch is a provider of IT business solutions to optimize operational and business processes. Cyber security solutions are focused on Identity Management and Security Assessment services.

Hornetsecurity

Hornetsecurity

Meet Hornetsecurity – Leading Cloud Email Security Provider. We protect global organizations so you can focus on what you do best.

Fraugster

Fraugster

Fraugster provides the most precise anti-fraud solution for e-commerce businesses.

CybX Security LLC

CybX Security LLC

CybX is the first company of its kind to merge the practice of computer forensics with computer security and information security.

Vulcan Cyber

Vulcan Cyber

At Vulcan, we’re modernizing the way enterprises reduce their cyber risk. From detection to resolution, we automate and orchestrate the vulnerability remediation process dynamically and at scale.

Acreto

Acreto

Acreto is an end-to-end security infrastructure that protects all your technologies with a single, simple cloud service.

AML Global Solutions (AMLGS)

AML Global Solutions (AMLGS)

AMLGS delivers Financial Crime prevention training programmes and consultancy services encompassing Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF), Bribery & Corruption and Fraud.

Globant

Globant

Globant is an It and software development company. We leverage the latest technologies and methodologies to help organizations transform in every aspect, including software security.

RNTrust

RNTrust

RNTrust provide solutions to meet today’s digital challenges utilizing digital technologies and services to make you more secured in digitally connected environment.

National Cryptologic Foundation (NCF)

National Cryptologic Foundation (NCF)

The National Cryptologic Foundation strives to influence the cryptologic future by sharing our educational resources, stimulating new knowledge, and commemorating our heritage.

Paubox

Paubox

Paubox offers secure, HIPAA compliant email and marketing solutions to fit the needs of modern healthcare organizations of every size.