Romanian hospitals face the effects of a ransomware attack

Hundreds of Romanian hospitals suffered delays in their operations after a devastating ransomware attack plagued the country’s healthcare sector. The nation’s medical infrastructure, heavily reliant on the Health Information System (HIS) for managing crucial medical operations and patient data, finds itself paralysed in the wake of the assault.

Over the weekend, the attack saw the HIS database held hostage through encryption, rendering vital systems inaccessible. With 25 hospitals already confirmed to have fallen victim to the attackers’ encryption tactics, 75 facilities have preemptively shut down their systems as a precaution, causing chaos in the healthcare sector.

 

The government is aware of the situation and assured everyone that they will resolve the problem of these Romanian hospitals.

 

The country’s Ministry of Health acknowledged the severity of the situation, revealing that they have deployed investigations to address the issue and resolve the problems of these Romanian hospitals.

The perpetrators allegedly executed the assault by deploying the Backmydata ransomware, a notorious Phobos family variant that rattled the country’s healthcare sector. Regional medical centres and specialised facilities like cancer treatment centres have been trapped in the digital ambush.

Despite the assailants’ demands for a hefty ransom of 3.5 BTC (approximately €157,000), the identity of the perpetrators remains a mystery, with only an email address provided as a point of contact.

As of now, medical practitioners have been compelled to resort to pen-and-paper methods, reverting to archaic times for record-keeping and prescription management. The Regional Institute of Oncology Iasi (IRO Iasi) was the first to adopt the reversion to manual processes, highlighting the disruption brought by the ransomware attack to the hospitals’ daily operations.

Fortunately, amid the chaos, assurances have been made regarding data integrity, with systems engineers affirming that shutdown protocols have mitigated data loss or leakage risks.

As the nation grapples with the repercussions of this ransomware event, questions arise regarding critical infrastructure security and the potential implications for patient welfare. With investigations ongoing and recovery efforts underway, Romania’s healthcare sector is stuck as it grapples with the fallout of a digital invasion that has laid bare vulnerabilities in its technological defences.