French hospital Simone Veil cancels patient services following a major cyber attack

French healthcare provider Hospital Simone Veil said it experienced a cyber security incident that affected daily operations and forced it to cancel patient appointments and consultations.

 

In an announcement on its website, Cannes-based Hospital Simone Veil ((CHC-SV) said that it was a victim of a cyber attack on February 16. Immediately after identifying the attack, the hospital took steps to contain the impact of the incident, including taking its entire computer network offline, which forced staff to migrate to manual mode of working.

 

“The cyberattack is currently being analysed in conjunction with expert partners (ANSSI, Cert Santé, Orange CyberDéfense, GHT06). Investigations remain ongoing,” the hospital said.

 

CHC-SV added that as a result of the cyber security incident, it was forced to cancel almost a third of non-emergency operations throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. Also, multiple non-emergency consultations were rescheduled.

 

The hospital authorities added that while it has kept the emergency, medicine, surgery, obstetrics, geriatrics, paediatrics, psychiatry, home hospitalisation, and rehabilitation units open, there is a delay in attending to patients as staff had to book appointments manually.

 

“The establishment works in conjunction with the Regional Health Agency and the Groupement Hospitalier de Territoire des Alpes Maritimes to regulate patients in the territory according to medical profiles and hospitalisation capacities within the Cannes Simone Veil hospital centre and from other establishments,” the healthcare provider added.

 

CHC-SV is in the process of restoring its affected systems with priority given to patient care-related software systems. It is also consulting with other hospitals who have suffered similar cyber attacks in the past and taking their feedback. The hospital is, however, unsure about how long it could take to return all affected systems to normal operations.

 

As of today, no hacker group has claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on the healthcare provider. Hospital authorities also confirmed that they haven’t received any ransom demand yet.