Australian healthcare provider UnitingCare Queensland has been hit by what appears to be Windows ransomware, with the company saying it was hit by a “cyber incident” on Monday.
The statement said some of the organisation’s digital and technology systems were inaccessible due to the incident.
Nine News said the impact due to ransomware and was much wider. The broadcaster reported that all operational systems, including internal staff email and booking of patient operations, forcing staff to use pen and paper instead.
It also said that the Wesley and St Andrews War Memorial Hospitals in Brisbane had their systems taken down.
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None of the common ransomware operators have yet listed the UnitingCare Queensland attack on their notification websites
According to its site, “UnitingCare also provides aged care, disability supports, health care and crisis response in Queensland through Blue Care, Lifeline, The Wesley Hospital, St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital, Buderim Private Hospital and St Stephen’s Hospital. And we provide community, aged care, disability and mental health support in the Northern Territory through ARRCS.”
The organisation’s statement said: “As soon as we became aware of the incident, we engaged the support of lead external technical and forensic advisers. We also notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre of the incident and are continuing to work with them to investigate the incident.
“Where necessary, manual back-up processes are now in place to ensure continuity of most services.
“Where manual processes cannot be implemented, services are being redirected or rescheduled accordingly.
“Due to the recency [sic] of the incident, it is not possible to provide a resolution timeframe at this stage, however our Digital and Technology team are working to resolve this issue as swiftly as possible.”
Last year, two prominent Australian healthcare providers were hit by ransomware. Regis was hit by the Windows Maze ransomware in August while Anglicare Sydney was hit by unspecified ransomware in September.
The last data breach report from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner showed that health service providers were at the very top when it came to the number of notifications.
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