Johannesburg – The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) says patient data has not been lost or compromised in the weekend cyber attack.
The Bulrushes earlier reported that hackers prevented access to NHLS servers.
However, on Tuesday, the NHLS confirmed it “experienced an Information Technology security breach that compromised its systems and infrastructure”.
The incident occurred on Saturday morning, 22 June 2024.
RELATED: Cyber Attack: National Health Laboratory Service Servers Inaccessible, Files Deleted – The Bulrushes
“Preliminary investigation suggests that our Enterprise Resource Planning (Oracle) environment and Laboratory Information System (LIS) (TrakCare) database and our CDW are not affected, therefore no patient data has been lost or compromised,” said the NHLS.
“All patient data is safe.”
NHLS said an investigation indicated that a ransomware virus was used in the cyber attack.
The ransomware virus targeted selected points in the NHLS IT systems, rendering them inaccessible and blocking communication from the LIS and other databases to and from users.
“As such all our systems remain inaccessible both internally and externally including to and from healthcare facilities until the integrity of the environment is secured and repaired,” the NHLS said.
“All users will be aware that the NHLS networked laboratory system is heavily reliant on these information technology systems that have been disrupted.
“It has been established that sections of our system have been deleted including in our backup server and this will require rebuilding the affected parts.
“Unfortunately, this will take time and investigations thus far have not advanced enough for us to give a timeframe toward the restoration of our systems and full service.”
The NHLS said all stakeholders and the public would be informed as soon as more information was available.
“The cyber attacks did continue but we have been able to block these because of the additional layer of security that was built to prevent further damage,” the NHLS said.
“We also have had to shut down systems to enable us to repair the damage.
“In response to the breach, the NHLS swiftly activated its Incident Response Team, which included both internal experts and external cybersecurity professionals.”
Through its countrywide network of quality-assured diagnostic laboratories, the NHLS is the sole provider of diagnostic pathology services to over 80 percent of the South African population.
