Security News Major London hospitals disrupted by Synnovis ransomware attack

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https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/major-london-hospitals-disrupted-by-synnovis-ransomware-attack/

A ransomware attack affecting pathology and diagnostic services provider Synnovis has impacted healthcare services at multiple major NHS hospitals in London.

While Synnovis has yet to issue a public statement regarding the June 3 ransomware attack, memos sent by partner hospitals affected by the attack revealed that this "ongoing critical incident" has had a "major impact" on healthcare services across southeast London.

"Our pathology partner Synnovis experienced a major IT incident earlier today, which is ongoing and means that we are not currently connected to the Synnovis IT servers," said Professor Ian Abbs, CEO of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

"This is having a major impact on the delivery of our services, with blood transfusions being particularly affected. Some activity has already been cancelled or redirected to other providers at short notice as we prioritise the clinical work that we are able to safely carry out."

The list of impacted hospitals includes King's College Hospital, Guy's Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital, and Evelina London Children's Hospital.

"Emergency care continues to be available, so patients should access services in the normal way by dialling 999 in an emergency and otherwise using 111, and patients should continue to attend appointments unless they are told otherwise," an NHS UK spokesperson said earlier today.

Major London hospitals disrupted by Synnovis ransomware attack

A ransomware attack affecting pathology and diagnostic services provider Synnovis has impacted healthcare services at multiple major NHS hospitals in London.

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Qilin ransomware gang linked to attack on London hospitals

A ransomware attack that hit pathology services provider Synnovis on Monday and impacted several major NHS hospitals in London has now been linked to the Qilin ransomware operation.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

A ransomware attack that hit pathology services provider Synnovis on Monday and impacted several major NHS hospitals in London has now been linked to the Qilin ransomware operation.

Ciaran Martin, the inaugural CEO of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said today that the Qilin gang is likely responsible for the incident

The attack has resulted in Synnovis being locked out of its systems and is causing ongoing service disruptions at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and various primary care providers across south east London.

"We believe it is a Russian group of cyber criminals who call themselves Qilin," Martin told BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday.

"They're simply looking for money. It's unlikely they would have known that they would have caused such serious primary healthcare disruption when they set out to attack the company."

 

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London hospitals face blood shortage after Synnovis ransomware attack

England's NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has issued an urgent call to O Positive and O Negative blood donors to book appointments and donate after last week’s cyberattack on pathology provider Synnovis impacted multiple hospitals in London.

On June 4, operations at multiple large NHS hospitals in London were disrupted by the ransomware attack that the Russian cybercrime group Qilin (a.k.a. Agenda) launched on Synnovis.

The incident impacted blood transfusions, with menay non-urgent procedures being canceled or redirected.

An announcement from the NHS today explains that affected hospitals cannot quickly match blood donor and recipient types, so there’s a risk of transfusion mismatch that could lead to life-threatening complications.

To address this risk, and until blood type matching systems are working again, the doctors at the impacted hospitals have opted to grant O Negative and O Positive types to patients who cannot afford to wait multiple hours for alternative blood type determination methods.

O Negative blood types can be transfused safely to all patients, while O Positive can donate to anyone with positive blood type rhesus, roughly three out of four patients.

Unfortunately, this safety-assuring tactic has caused the reserves of the two particular blood types to run low.

London hospitals face blood shortage after Synnovis ransomware attack

England's NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has issued an urgent call to O Positive and O Negative blood donors to book appointments and donate after last week's cyberattack on pathology provider Synnovis impacted multiple hospitals in London.

www.bleepingcomputer.com