A hospital located south of Paris, France, has suffered a serious computer attack since Saturday night that is causing serious disruptions, according to the center, from which the hackers are demanding a ransom of 10 million dollars.
“The computer scientists realized that there was a problem. They said it would be a breakdown (…) but when a ransom demand of 10 million dollars arrived, they understood it,” explains the director of the hospital, Giller Calmes.
The ransom request was formulated in English, specified a police source.
This cyberattack against the Center Hospitalier Sud-Francilien (CHSF), in Corbeil-Essonnes, makes “all the commercial software of the hospital, the storage systems (in particular, medical images) and the related information system inaccessible for the time being. with admissions,” the hospital, which is being forced to refer patients to other centers, said in a statement Monday.
An investigation into computer system intrusion and attempted extortion by an organized gang has been opened to the cybercrime section of the Paris prosecutor’s office. According to a close source, “a family of ransomware has been identified.”
The center, which provides health coverage to some 600,000 inhabitants, has launched an emergency plan to guarantee continuity of care.
This is not the first time that a hospital has been attacked: for about two years there has been a wave of cyberattacks targeting the French and European hospital sector.
In 2021, there was an average weekly incident of this type in French health centers, according to official sources.
According to experts, cybercriminals either act blindly, randomly attacking any computer system until they manage to penetrate one, or mistakenly believe that it will happen, as in the case of American hospitals, often private centers with a significant budget that do they yield when there are extortions.
French public schools, due to their status, are not authorized to make such payments. YS
