On Sunday, the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona suffered a ransomware attack that affected the computer system and caused the cancellation of 150 non-urgent operations and up to 3,000 patient checkups. The hospital is now diverting new urgent cases to other hospitals in the city.
The attack was launched by a ransomware group known as Ransom House and it infected the computers at the facility’s laboratories, emergency room and pharmacy at three main centers and several external clinics.
It is still unclear when the hospital’s IT staff will be able to recover the impacted systems. Hospital director Antoni Castells stated that they cannot predict when the system will be back to normal.
The Catalonia’s Cybersecurity Agency is currently working with the hospital to restore the infrastructure. However, the ransomware gang behind the attack has yet to demand the payment of a ransom.
Regional government telecommunications secretary Segi Marcén confirmed that no ransom would be paid by Spanish authorities. The authorities are investigating the security breach, and it is unknown if the hospital suffered a data breach.
Meanwhile, the hospital’s press department mentioned that all written work was being done on paper. The cyber attack highlights the importance of cybersecurity measures to protect critical infrastructure such as hospitals and healthcare facilities.
