A major hospital in Osaka,
Japan, has suspended routine medical services following a ransomware cyber-attack that disrupted its electronic medical record systems.
Emergency operations are continuing, but Osaka General Medical Center officials
told reporters on Monday that the hospital system failed earlier today and could not be accessed.
They have also reported that a contractor who examined the issue concluded the system had been attacked by a ransomware computer virus, with the threat actor allegedly sending an email in English to the hospital's server and demanding a ransom in Bitcoin.
"With organizations continuing to connect cyber-physical systems to their networks, ransomware attacks
against the healthcare industry will only increase," Simon Chassar, CRO at Claroty, told
Infosecurity.
"It's yet to be confirmed whether cyber-physical systems were hit during the attack; however, with the ever-increasing number of targeted attacks on critical infrastructure organizations, it's vital these devices are secured."
The hospital's director, Takeshi Shimazu, has told media outlets that the Center staff are working to restore the system and using paper medical records until the incident is resolved, as the attack has made it very difficult to calculate medical treatment fees or check details of patients' medical histories.
