The NHS has confirmed ransomware was the cause of disruption to a Scottish health board on Friday that led to operations and doctors’ appointments being cancelled.
NHS Lanarkshire, which is Scotland’s third-largest health board and serves more than 650,000 people, said its network had been infected by a new variant of the Bitpaymer malware.
The board said staff worked over the weekend to bring systems back online. The incident is being investigated.
Ransomware encrypts data on the systems of those attacked and demands a payment to unlock the files.
The attack began around 11 a.m. on Friday with operations cancelled and the work of GPs disrupted. But the board said operations had continued under contingency plans and emergency procedures weren’t affected.
“A small number of systems were affected with the majority restored over the weekend and the remainder on Monday,” said NHS Lanarkshire chief executive Calum Campbell in a statement. “Unfortunately a small number of procedures and appointments were cancelled as a result of the incident.”
The board added that its security softare was up-to-date and that the malware apparently slipped through because it hadn’t yet been identified by security firms.
“Following analysis of the malware our security providers issued an updated signature so that this variant can now be detected and blocked,” the board stated.
A patient who attended a GP appointment in Hamilton, south-east of Glasgow, told The Scotsman: “Receptionists were asking people to only stay and wait to see a doctor if it was an emergency. They were unable to access anyone’s notes or test results.”
NHS Lanarkshire was one of the Scotish authorities worst-hit in May’s Wannacry ransomware epidemic. Eleven of Scotland’s 14 territorial health boards were affected in that attack, but the NHS said last week’s infiltration wasn’t on the same scale.
Most ransomware spreads through malicious attachments that trick users into opening them. Wannacry was different, using an exploit thought to have been developed by the NSA, the US spy agency, which affects a vulnerable Windows component and doesn’t require any user action.
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This will continue until there is a solid cybersecurity architecture in place, agreed by and developed by a world consortium. Current efforts, noble as they are, are like continually patching rust spots on a rust-bucket car. Getting more cyber experts is the same as getting more bodywork people; it won't solve the basic problem that this particular car IS and ALWAYS be a rust-bucket and a new body, galvanised is needed. Much of the current software was designed around an open internet and that openness is its downfall. Watch this space and read similar reports in 12 months time.