BICOM

The Israeli Cyber Authority confirmed that a cyber-attack this week that targeted two hospitals was successfully prevented from causing any damage.

The cyber attack took place on Wednesday evening and the early hours of Thursday morning and infected a number of computers, but was dealt with immediately by IT security officials on site.

The Israeli National Cyber Authority said: “There were attempts to hack several hospitals. Various computers at several hospitals were affected and were dealt with immediately; no damage was caused.  The event was stopped by the organizations’ information security personnel together with the National Cyber Defence Authority and is being closely monitored. The hospitals’ continuity of function has not been impaired.”

Early reports suggested eight hospitals had been targeted, but the Cyber Authority clarified that two hospitals were affected, the other reports of attacks were false alarms.

The attack was believed to be connected to the recent worldwide phenomena of ransomeware attacks. These attacks, thought to emanate from Ukraine or Russia, demand a ransom to un-encrypt data files. The Cyber Authority clarified that yesterday’s attack was not linked to ransomware.

Commenting on the attacks, Shira Lev-Ami, Director of Information Systems and Technology in the Health Ministry said: “The healthcare system is in good shape and better than others. The Ministry has given out directives, and all the medical institutions – hospitals and health fund clinics – meet the standards that were set. There are many circles of protection.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu attended the Cyber Week conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and outlined the importance of cyber security: “Cyber security is serious business…  it’s a growing threat everywhere because everything, every single thing is being digitized.” The Prime Minister said “the distinction between hi-tech and low-tech” disappeared across the world and in one industry after another, “the need for cyber security is growing exponentially”.