AIIMS Ransomware Attack Originated from China, Data on 5 Hacked Servers Retrieved: Sources

The “deliberate and targeted” ransomware attack on the servers of AIIMS Delhi originated from China and of 100 servers, five were infiltrated by the hackers but data from them has been successfully retrieved, sources have told CNN-News18. “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. 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. 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.