AIIMS’ smart labs, report generation, billing and appointment systems were affected.
New Delhi:
Delhi’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences may have been a victim of a ransomware attack, the hospital has said. All sections of the hospital are working manually since 7 am due to server failure.
In the evening, the hospital said in a statement, the National Informatics Center working to restore the system “has been informed that it may be a ransomware attack … (which will be investigated by the appropriate authorities”).
“Measures are being taken to restore digital services and support is being sought from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the National Informatics Centre,” the statement said.
Ransomware is malicious software designed to deny a user or organization access to files on their computer. In most cases, cyber attackers make ransom demands to allow access to files.
The city’s largest referral hospital, which serves 1.5 million outpatients and 80,000 inpatients annually, has been operating manually since morning, with long queues forming at each department. The registration section was hit the most, where hundreds of people queued up since morning to get registered.
Besides this, smart labs, report generation, billing and appointment systems were also affected.
“AIIMS and NIC will take precautions to prevent such attacks in future,” the hospital said in a statement.
According to the AIIMS website, the hospital was established in New Delhi in 1956 as an Institute of National Importance to act as a center for the development of excellence in all aspects of the healthcare system in India. A computer facility was started in 1978 in a smaller form.