Cyber-attack affects 85% of services delivered by the 111 Hotline

The escalating challenges around cyber security and public infrastructure have been further highlighted this weekend with a cyber-attack against NHS 111.

The service declared a critical incident as it suffered severe disruption during the attack, resulting in a significant systems outage with its Adastra system. As a result, the incident saw staff reverting to working on paper to keep services going.

The incident, first recognised on Thursday, targeted a patient referral system, which also impacts ambulance dispatches and out of hours appointment bookings.

The outage impacted all of the UK, and contingency plans were quickly deployed to minimise further impact.

According to the BBC, the company’s chief operating officer said the loss of service was related to a cyber-attack and had been contained to “a small number of servers”. The firm also indicated that the issue might not be fully resolved until this week.

Whilst it’s believed that the perpetrators are cybercriminals rather than state-sponsored, this is another event highlighting the need for the health service to review and adopt more stringent security procedures.

The NHS is addressing the issue and hopes to resume normal operations soon. However, this latest attack  comes at a time when service delivery and resources are already critically stretched.

At FourNet, we help organisations understand and mitigate threats for cyber-attacks helping to detect, deter and respond to cyber incidents. If you want to discuss any concerns you may have about your cyber defences, talk with our team today.