London hospitals cancel operations and appointments after being hit by ransomware attack

LONDON – Several London hospitals said Tuesday they had to cancel operations and turn away patients due to a cyber attack on a company that provides pathology laboratory services.

The company Synnovis said it was hit by a ransomware attack. Chief executive Mark Dollar said the attack “affected all of Synnovis’ IT systems, resulting in disruptions to many of our pathology services”.

“It’s still early days and we’re trying to understand exactly what happened,” he said.

The National Health Service said there had been a “significant impact” on King’s College and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals, which run several hospitals in south London, as well as clinics and doctors’ surgeries in one part of the city.

A memo addressed to staff stated that the “critical incident” had a “major impact” on service delivery, with blood transfusions being particularly affected.

The NHS England London region said in a statement it was “working urgently to fully understand the impact of the incident with support from the government’s National Cyber ​​Security Center and our cyber operations team”.

Oliver Dowson, 70, was prepared for an operation from 6am on Monday at Royal Brompton Hospital but was told by a surgeon at around 12.30pm that it would not happen.

“Staff on the ward seemed unaware of what had happened, only that many patients were being told to go home and wait for a new date,” he said. “I got a date for next Tuesday and I’m crossing my fingers.”

Ransomware attacks they involve criminals paralyzing computer systems with malware and demanding money to release them. Ransomware is the most costly and disruptive form of cybercrime, crippling local governments, judicial systems, hospitals and schools, as well as businesses. It is difficult to combat because most gangs are based in former Soviet states and beyond the reach of Western justice.

Britain’s state-funded healthcare system has been hit before, including during a 2017 ransomware attack that froze computers in hospitals across the country, closing wards, shuttering emergency rooms and halting treatment.