Hospital systems in quarantine after ransomware attack in Victoria

By Cameron Abbott and Allison Wallace

State police and cyber security experts have been called in to help manage a ransomware attack that has forced several hospitals in Victoria to go offline.

Affected hospitals include those in the Gippsland Health Alliance, in the state’s east, and the South West Alliance of Rural Health.

The ABC reports that the attackers managed to bypass controls hospitals have in place in order to install the ransomware, with the affected hospitals now having to quarantine various systems, leading to the cancellation of some elective surgeries and appointments.

Investigations are continuing to determine the full scale of the cyber attack which was discovered on Monday, with the perpetrators being described as “sophisticated cyber criminals”.

A government spokesperson told the ABC that at this stage, it doesn’t seem patients’ personal information has been compromised.

This is not the first hospital to fall victim to a ransomware attack – a US hospital was recently struck down by one, and had to pay a ransom to be released. Read more on our blog here.

We’ll keep you updated as the investigation continues.