Osaka Hospital services disrupted after a ransomware attack

Osaka General Medical Center, a leading hospital in Japan with 36 departments and 865 beds, has suspended its routine, non-emergency outpatient services and operations due to a ransomware cyberattack on its electronic medical record system.

The officials told on Monday that a network server failed at 6:40 AM on October 31 along with messages sent in English that said “all files have been encrypted.” The hackers demanded a ransom paid in the bitcoin cryptocurrency.

Operated by the Osaka Prefectural Hospital Organization, the hospital reported the attack to the prefectural police. Hospital officials said they will not negotiate with the hackers.

The disabling of the medical record system made it nearly impossible to calculate medical treatment fees or check details of the patients’ medical histories, the officials said. The hospital staff started using paper medical records on November 1. This has affected up to 1,000 patients. The hospital also said it had no problems in management systems of the computer servers.

Shimazu Takeshi, the hospital’s director, stated that hospital personnel is working hard to restore the system. He regretted the trouble and inconvenience to the patients and other parties involved. The hospital is recognized as the region’s premier cancer hospital and advanced emergency medical services facility.

Notably, this is not the first time hospitals have been targeted in ransomware attacks in Japan. The Handa Hospital in Tsurugi, Tokushima Prefecture, experienced an attack on its electronic medical record system in October 2021, which prevented it from providing regular medical services for about two months. After a computer virus infected its internal server in January 2022, Nippon Dental University Hospital in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward was forced to stop accepting new patients and partially halt medical procedures for four days.