The ministry says Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center has switched to manual procedures following attack.
By TPS and United with Israel Staff
The Israeli Health Ministry reports a suspected cyberattack on the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center in Jerusalem.
The ministry says the hospital has switched to manual procedures, and that the National Cyber Directorate has been notified.
The report comes after a ransomware hacker group earlier in September published patient data stolen from Israel’s Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center.
The “Ragnar Locker” group followed through on a threat to release the sensitive information gathered in the cyberattack on the hospital in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, about a month before if it did not receive a ransom of tens of millions of shekels.
Since 2021, Israeli hospitals have encountered a series of cyberattacks with severe consequences. These incidents have included ransomware attacks, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and data breaches, all aimed at crippling the hospitals’ operations and compromising patient information.
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman reported in May that Israel’s health care sector was vulnerable to cyberattacks. To test the preparedness of the hospitals, a team of hackers overseen by his office staged a controlled penetration of one major hospital, revealing deficiencies in the medical center’s security precautions and responses to the “hack.”
Englman’s report stressed the vulnerability of hospital equipment, such as ultrasound and MRI scanning devices, which are also integrated into hospital information networks.