London Hospitals Disrupted by Severe Ransomware Attack

Several London hospitals were forced to cancel operations due to a ransomware attack on Synnovis, a pathology laboratory services provider. The attack has severely impacted services, especially blood transfusions. NHS and government agencies are working to assess the full extent of the disruption.

Several London hospitals were compelled to cancel operations and send patients away on Tuesday following a cyberattack targeting Synnovis, a company providing pathology laboratory services.

Synnovis' Chief Executive Mark Dollar revealed that a ransomware attack had impacted all their IT systems, disrupting numerous pathology services. "It is still early and we are trying to understand exactly what has happened," Dollar added.

The National Health Service reported a "significant impact" at King's College and Guy's and St Thomas' hospital trusts, affecting multiple south London hospitals, clinics, and doctor practices across the city. A memo described the incident as having a "major impact" on delivering services, particularly blood transfusions.

NHS England's London region stated it was working urgently alongside the government's National Cyber Security Centre and its cyber operations team to fully understand the incident's impact. Patients like Oliver Dowson, 70, were directly impacted. Dowson, who was scheduled for an operation at the Royal Brompton Hospital, found out his surgery was canceled late on Monday morning. "The staff on the ward didn't seem to know what had happened, just that many patients were being told to go home and wait for a new date," he said. Dowson has since been rescheduled for next Tuesday, hoping the surgery will proceed.

Ransomware, one of the costliest and most disruptive forms of cybercrime, involves criminals paralyzing computer systems with malware and demanding money to release them. Such attacks have crippled various local governments, court systems, hospitals, schools, and businesses. Combating this issue is challenging since many cyber gangs operate from former Soviet states, beyond the reach of Western law enforcement.

The UK's state-funded health system has faced similar challenges before, notably during a 2017 ransomware attack that froze computers across hospitals nationwide, closing wards, shutting emergency rooms, and halting treatments.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)