The Privacy Protection Authority warned the public this evening (Thursday) that there is a concern about the leakage of sensitive personal information from the Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak - following the serious cyber attack that occurred on Tuesday.
According to the announcement, "The Authority wishes to warn the public due to an indication of an information leak that was discovered today, as part of the enforcement process that the Authority initiated immediately after the incident occurred.
""An initial examination of the incident raised concerns about an information leak, but today it was discovered that this is a real indication of a leak of sensitive personal information.
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""In light of this indication, the Authority wishes to instruct the public to increase awareness, exercise caution, and act in accordance with the rules and recommendations of the Privacy Protection Authority.".
below The Authority's recommendations to the general public.
The Privacy Protection Authority added: "The authority is continuing the investigation, together with the hospital, and is monitoring the incident and the hospital.".
Ma'ani Hayeshua Hospital announced this evening that the "Ragnar Locker" group is responsible for the cyber attack. According to them, "This group attacked dozens of healthcare systems around the world. The quick and professional response of the hospital teams prevented widespread encryption of the systems.".
The Ministry of Health, the National Cyber Directorate, and Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital stated: "Today, concerns were raised that personal information was leaked in the cyber attack at Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital.".
According to the announcement, "Hospital teams, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the National Cyber Directorate, are examining the nature and scope of the information. At this stage, it is too early to determine.".
""At this point, the information has not yet been made public and the hospital is preparing for this scenario. As soon as we complete the test, the hospital will transparently and sensitively update patients.".
It was also stated that "most of the hospital's computer systems have already been restored to operation and the hospital's medical activities are continuing as usual, while the process of crediting the hospital's systems continues.".
Yesterday, the Mai'ani Hayeshua Medical Center, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the National Cyber Directorate, announced that the cyber attack is in the advanced stages of containment at a satisfactory pace.
Some hospital units are gradually returning to computer-controlled work. The rest of the hospital continues to work manually and provide service to patients.
It should be noted that following the cyber attack, the medical equipment was not damaged and there was no impact on the patients at the hospital.
However, the medical center's administrative computer systems were encrypted and the attackers demanded a ransom to release them. Teams from the Ministry of Health and the National Cyber Command arrived at the hospital and helped handle the incident.
The Ministry of Health, together with the hospital, decided not to accept patients to outpatient clinics and imaging centers at the medical center on Tuesday.
The statement issued by the hospital reads: "The Mai'ani Hayeshua Medical Center is updating on a ransomware-type cyber event that damaged the hospital's administrative computer systems. The event is being monitored by the Ministry of Health and the National Cyber Directorate and is being handled by the best experts in the field. Currently, it concerns administrative systems only and without any harm to the medical care or the center's patients.".
Nitzan Amar, the deputy head of the National Cyber Directorate, explained on 103FM the sensitive situation in which the hospitals are: “The attack caused the computer systems to be shut down. The medical equipment was not damaged. The hospital, along with the National Cyber Directorate and teams from the Ministry of Health, are helping to handle the incident, and the incident is currently contained. We are on the ground and our main mission is to restore the hospital to capacity. The incident is currently under investigation. Restoring an organization and certainly a hospital to capacity is a matter of weeks.”.
He described the sensitive situation: “In the end, because of the essential services it provides, there are many unscrupulous hackers who take advantage of the fact that the service is very essential in hospitals and can exploit a ransom demand from an organization that is supposed to save lives. They exploit this weakness because there is also a lot of personal information, and such organizations are much easier to blackmail.”.
