Surgeries postponed in two Belgian hospitals due to cyberattack

On Tuesday, two Belgian hospitals had to cancel approximately 70 surgeries because of the impact of a cyberattack.

“An IT colleague informed us of IT problems. After consulting the crisis unit, it was decided to temporarily shut down all servers,” Sofie Braem, a spokesperson for the AZ Monica hospital, told Belgian news outlet Het Laatste Nieuws.

The cyberattack has had a significant impact on the day-to-day business in AZ Monica, which operates hospitals in Antwerp and Deurne. All surgeries that were scheduled for Tuesday have been postponed. A total of seven patients had to be transferred to other hospitals.

Additionally, all planned and non-urgent treatments have been suspended for the time being. Emergency care has been reduced to the bare minimum. Ambulances were partially diverted to surrounding hospitals. Due to the incident, both hospitals were unable to access their electronic patient files.

“For the management team, ensuring the safety and continuity of care for our patients is paramount. We are actively working to ensure this. We do not want to take any risks when it comes to our patients,” Geert Smits, Director of AZ Monica, told Belgian news outlets in a press conference.

The Public Prosecution Service of Antwerp has acknowledged that AZ Monica has become the victim of a cyberattack.

The Computer Crime Unit of the Belgian Federal Police has been informed of the incident and has launched an investigation into the security incident.

As of writing, it remains unknown who’s responsible for the attack, what the attackers’ intentions are, and if any personal or sensitive information has been stolen.

An anonymous source told VTM Nieuws that hackers launched a ransomware attack and are demanding a ransom. This, however, has not been confirmed by the Public Prosecution Service or AZ Monica.

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