Thousands of patients were left without tests, while the risk of leakage only adds fuel to the fire.
The Italian division of the company Synlab, specializing in medical diagnostics and analysis, faced a serious cyber attack. As a result of the hack, all laboratory research and sample collection services were suspended. The company's Italian network consists of 380 laboratories and medical centers across the country, and all of them were affected by the attack.
The incident occurred early in the morning of April 18. After detecting the intrusion, the company's IT department decided to disable all computers and all corporate infrastructure to minimize the damage.
The company's official statement reads: "As soon as the threat was detected, the IT department immediately excluded the entire corporate segment from the network and turned off all machines in accordance with the company's information security procedures."
There is a possibility that as a result of the attack, confidential medical data could become available to intruders. The company says: "As of today, we cannot rule out that this attack may involve personal data related to the services provided to you."
Currently, all analysis and sample collection services are suspended until further notice. Customers are advised to use their phone number to contact the company, as email services are temporarily inactive.
Samples obtained by the company before the cyberattack and still not analyzed are stored in low-temperature conditions. However, depending on the system recovery time, customers may need to provide new samples, as the old ones may become corrupted.
In an update on April 19, the company announced the gradual resumption of some services, including outpatient specialist appointments and physical therapy. Meanwhile, work on cleaning the IT infrastructure from malware and restoring systems from backups continues.
"Currently, the Synlab team analyzes every segment of the IT infrastructure, including backup systems, to safely restore systems in the shortest possible time," the company said in a statement. Specific terms of restoration of work are not yet reported, the company encourages customers to follow updates on the site or in social networks.
At the time of writing, none of the known ransomware groups claimed responsibility for the attack on Synlab Italia.
The Italian division of the company Synlab, specializing in medical diagnostics and analysis, faced a serious cyber attack. As a result of the hack, all laboratory research and sample collection services were suspended. The company's Italian network consists of 380 laboratories and medical centers across the country, and all of them were affected by the attack.
The incident occurred early in the morning of April 18. After detecting the intrusion, the company's IT department decided to disable all computers and all corporate infrastructure to minimize the damage.
The company's official statement reads: "As soon as the threat was detected, the IT department immediately excluded the entire corporate segment from the network and turned off all machines in accordance with the company's information security procedures."
There is a possibility that as a result of the attack, confidential medical data could become available to intruders. The company says: "As of today, we cannot rule out that this attack may involve personal data related to the services provided to you."
Currently, all analysis and sample collection services are suspended until further notice. Customers are advised to use their phone number to contact the company, as email services are temporarily inactive.
Samples obtained by the company before the cyberattack and still not analyzed are stored in low-temperature conditions. However, depending on the system recovery time, customers may need to provide new samples, as the old ones may become corrupted.
In an update on April 19, the company announced the gradual resumption of some services, including outpatient specialist appointments and physical therapy. Meanwhile, work on cleaning the IT infrastructure from malware and restoring systems from backups continues.
"Currently, the Synlab team analyzes every segment of the IT infrastructure, including backup systems, to safely restore systems in the shortest possible time," the company said in a statement. Specific terms of restoration of work are not yet reported, the company encourages customers to follow updates on the site or in social networks.
At the time of writing, none of the known ransomware groups claimed responsibility for the attack on Synlab Italia.
