South Africa‘s National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) is contending with a severe ransomware attack that began disrupting operations on a Saturday morning. The attack has significantly hindered the dissemination of lab results essential during the country’s response to an outbreak of mpox (monkeypox). Despite efforts to restore systems, sections of NHLS’s infrastructure, including backup servers, were deleted by the hackers, necessitating extensive rebuilding efforts.
CEO Koleka Mlisana confirmed that while patient databases were not compromised, the attack rendered both internal and external systems inaccessible. This disruption has forced NHLS to resort to manual methods for reporting urgent test results to healthcare providers, such as phone calls and physical delivery of printed reports. The incident has prompted the shutdown of affected systems and the deployment of an incident response team along with external cybersecurity experts to mitigate the damage and restore functionality.
The ransomware attack has raised concerns across South Africa, particularly given the seriousness of the mpox outbreak, which has resulted in three deaths and 16 confirmed cases. This incident underscores the vulnerability of healthcare systems to cyber threats and highlights the broader impact of such attacks on public health responses.
