The activity of the hospital of Dax (Landes), victim of a cyber attack which flattened its computer system, resumes "very gradually" even if it will take "several days", or even "several weeks" before a return. to normal, officials from the hospital said Thursday.
"These people are looking for a ransom that they will not get, no ransom is paid because it does not guarantee to recover the codes and that would only encourage hackers", said Benoît Elleboode, general manager of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) during a press briefing after a new crisis unit.
Next to hospital officials, he blasted the "despicable barbarism of people who attack a hospital site in (full) pandemic".
CH Dax.
Faced with cybercrime, when the hospital is hampered in the care it owes to all patients, to each of us, the ARS is in support.
The stakes are colossal and the commitment of the Dax CH teams is remarkable.
👏👏👏 @ ARS_NAquit @ PrefAquitaine33 @chdax pic.twitter.com/4lXxL5xZg0
- ELLEBOODE Benoit (@ElleboodeB) February 11, 2021
The General Directorate of Health (DGS) confirmed Thursday that the hospital center was the victim of a cyberattack "by ransomware" on Tuesday which "paralyzed" "almost all information systems".
In this type of attack, hackers break into the computer system and then encrypt its files to render them inoperative, demanding ransom to unlock them.
In Dax, ransom demand messages appeared in French on computers.
"A situation that is changing from hour to hour"
If the telephone lines have since been restored, "we still have black screens," assured a spokesperson for the establishment, the second in the Landes with 1000 beds and 2300 employees, which was still functioning Thursday in degraded mode "paper and pen ”.
The hospital, however, spoke of "a situation that is changing hour by hour".
“Activity is resuming very gradually in Dax, under good conditions,” declared Michel Glanes acting director of the hospital center since February 1.
“The most important thing for us is that patients have no loss of opportunity,” he insisted.
But "to return to a normal situation, it will take several days, several weeks", estimated Gilbert Martin, responsible for information systems, without "any certainty that there can not be other attacks, rebounds" .
A service provider specializing in cybercrime, Orange Cyber Defense, supports the hospital "to make the diagnosis and know how to rebuild this information system", he explained.
The intensive care unit not affected
The attack strongly affected sectors such as sterilization - via the computerization of washing cycles - or catering via room plans.
But other services like intensive care - where the hospital has a dozen Covid patients - have not been affected.
"Consultations continue to be provided [...] Urgent care continues to be administered in a secure and efficient manner", particularly in the operating room where "scheduled activities" have on the other hand been "canceled until the weekend", detailed Dr Benjamin Blanc, President of the Establishment Medical Commission.
Other sectors, such as radiology, laboratories and pharmacy operate in degraded mode but "without consequence on patients", he added.
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No patient has been transferred except "except those followed in radiotherapy", that is to say approximately 70 people who will be referred to other establishments, in Bordeaux, Bayonne or Pau in the coming days, added Aline Gilet-Caubère. , assistant director of the hospital center.
Chemotherapy is provided, but with lags, and Covid vaccinations are continuing, according to Dr Blanc.
The Paris prosecutor's office, which has national jurisdiction over cybercrime, has taken up the investigation.
According to a recent report by Anssi, hospitals and other entities in the health sector are one of the prime targets of ransomware attackers.
A trend which "increased in 2020, especially in the context of a pandemic linked to Covid-19".