“Death by cyberattack” was close to becoming a reality for the patients at several London hospitals last summer – all because of a ransomware attack on NHS partner Synnovis laboratories, a new report finds.
Nearly 600 “patient incidents” have now been linked to the June 3rd, 2024 attack, according to a news report by the Health Service Journal (HSJ), a London-based industry publication covering NHS policy and management.
The attack on Synnovis, the primary pathology lab provider for the National Health Service (NHS) London region, disrupted services at five major hospitals, lasting for several months, including King’s College teaching hospital, along with Guy’s and St. Thomas’ hospitals, Evelina London Children's Hospital, and Royal Brompton being severly impacted.
Claimed by the Qilin ransomware gang just days later, hospitals were immediately forced to divert patients to other facilities and cancel over 10,000 appointments, elective procedures, and surgical operations, including all transplant surgeries, due to a lack of blood transfusions.
Out of the 600 incidents, patient care was reported to have suffered in 170 of the cases, the HSJ said, including one case of “severe” harm and 14 cases of “moderate” harm, with the remaining incidents considered low harm.
In addition, two patients were reported to have suffered long-term or permanent damage to their health as a result of the attack, Bloomberg reported in January.
The latest incident numbers were provided by the NHS England – updating a previous report released by the nation’s health service in January, the HSJ said.
The earlier tallies had estimated two cases of significant harm, 11 cases of moderate harm, and more than 120 cases of minor harm, according to data.
Qilin gang responsible
Synnovis runs over 100 specialized labs across London, offering testing and diagnostics for dozens of conditions, from diabetes, genetics, and neuropathy to blood transfusions, immunology, and oncology, according to its website.
The attack was claimed by the Russian-linked Qilin gang, a ransomware-as-a-service cartel that's been operating since 2022 and known for targeting its victims with phishing emails.
The Qilin group is considered one of the top five most active gangs in the past 12 months, with a total of 376 victims, according to the Cybernews Ransomlooker tracking tool.
Recent high-profile victims include the SK Group, New York City landmark building 550 Madison, luxury jet company Elit Avia, and Japan’s prestigious Utsunomiya Central Clinic (UCC) cancer treatment center.
The cybercriminal cartel has also been linked to exploiting its victims with the destructive zero-day vulnerability known as the “Citrix Bleed” — the same vulnerability used in the 2024 UnitedHealth Change Healthcare ransomware attack by the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware gang.
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