The “deliberate and targeted” ransomware attack on the servers of AIIMS Delhi originated from China and of 100 servers (40 physical and 60 virtual), five were infiltrated by the hackers but data from them has been successfully retrieved, sources have told CNN-News18.
News18 had reported earlier that the attack had links to “one of India’s neighbouring countries” as agencies had found an IP address originating from there.
Trouble began on November 23 when the servers went down, affecting the outpatient department (OPD) and sample collection services. “Today the server for National Informatics Centre’s eHospital being used at AIIMS, New Delhi, was down due to which outpatient and inpatient digital hospital services including, smart lab, billing, report generation, appointment system etc., have been affected,” AIIMS had said in a statement.
A case of extortion and cyber terrorism was registered by the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police on November 25.
Commenting on the attack, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said: “I can’t comment on that as it is a subject matter of an investigation by the NIA…It is pretty clear that it is a deliberate and targeted effort…a ransomware attack on AIIMS’ system… and NIA is investigating it.”
Sources had told News18 that there were several lapses that facilitated the easy entry of hackers into the AIIMS system. A senior-level officer supervising the matter said it was suspected the ransomware entered by clicking a link sent on a website a few months ago. Investigators have also not ruled out the role of insiders.
On Monday, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor called for a thorough investigation into the cyber attack, urged the government to take necessary measures to ensure adequate protection of citizens’ sensitive personal data and avoid such data breaches in the future.
Raising the matter of urgent public importance in Lok Sabha, Tharoor said the recent cyber attacks on the IT servers of AIIMS had resulted in data losses which impeded its normal operations, including patient registration, consultation booking and availability of medical records.
“The origin, intent and extent of the attack remain unclear and I trust that the government recognising this as a matter of public importance will take the House into confidence about this and the measures taken to prevent a recurrence,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.
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