French hospital cancels operations after a ransomware attack

A French hospital near Paris canceled operations and transfer some patients due to a cyber attack suffered over the weekend.

France’s health ministry announced that the Hospital Centre of Versailles was hit by a cyber attack over the weekend.

Hospital Centre of Versailles, which includes Andre-Mignot Hospital, Richaud Hospital and the Despagne Retirement Home, canceled operations and transferred some patients due to the cyberattack.

According to the RFI’s website, the computers at the hospital were infected with ransomware, threat actors behind the attack also demanded a ransom.

“The group of hackers behind the attack have demanded a ransom, according to Richard Delepierre, co-chairman of the establishment’s supervisory board on Monday.” reported RFI.

“A ransom, the amount of which I do not know, has been requested but we do not intend to pay it,” assured Delepierre, who is also mayor of Chesnay-Rocquencourt.

The regional health agency (ARS) confirmed that operations at the Andre-Mignot Hospital were canceled, while keeping other services up and running.

Health Minister Francois Braun told AFP that six patients had been transferred from the beginning of the attack evening, three in intensive care and three from the neonatal unit.

The hospital is still facing problems and we account exclude that other patients will be transferred in other structures.

“While the machines were still functioning in the intensive care unit, more people were needed to watch the screens as they were no longer working as part of a network, Braun said.” reported AFP.

The police launched an investigation into attempted extortion, the hospital had also filed a formal complaint Sunday.

In France, the law prohibits public establishments to pay ransoms.

This isn’t the first hacking attempt that hit the French healthcare industry, according to Braun, “the health system suffers daily attacks” and “vast majority of these attempts are prevented”.

In August, the Center Hospitalier Sud Francilien (CHSF), a hospital southeast of Paris, suffered a ransomware attack over the weekend. The attack disrupted the emergency services and surgeries and forced the hospital to refer patients to other structures. According to local media, threat actors demand a $10 million ransom to provide the decryption key to restore encrypted data.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, ransomware)

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