For the first time, an Israeli hospital was hit by a major ransomware attack

The Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, Israel, was hit by a ransomware attack that was defined by Israel’s National Cyber Directorate as a “major” attack.

The Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, Israel was hit by a ransomware attack that impacted the system of the hospital.

Local media outlets reported that the hospital has been using alternate systems to provide treatments to patients. Hospital representatives

“Since the attack, which occurred without any prior warning, the hospital has been using alternate systems while treating patients, and has been writing patients’ information down by hand. The hospital is operating as normal, except for elective, nonurgent operations. All critical equipment is working as it should, including CT and MRI scanners.” reported the Jerusalem Post.

The patients that cannot be treated at Hillel Yaffe due to the cyberattack will be transferred to the Laniado Medical Center in Netanya.

Yigal Unna, director of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, classified the incident as a “major” attack. Unna pointed out that this is the first time that a ransomware attack crippled the system at a hospital in Israel.

Israel’s National Cyber Directorate agency announced that “the health ministry has updated hospitals as a preventive measure”.

According to the Maariv media outlet, the attack was launched by a new ransomware group that also targeted a hospital in the US.

Israeli organizations and businesses were hit by a large number of attacks in the past two years, some industries like Aerospace were more exposed than others.

“The National Cyber Directorate reported that it handled more than 11,000 inquiries on its 119 hotline in 2020, some 30% more than it handled in 2019. The directorate made about 5,000 requests to entities to handle vulnerabilities exposing them to attacks, and was in contact with about 1,400 entities concerning attempted or successful attacks.” reported the JP.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Israeli hospital)

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