Cyberattack: a hospital in Essone is targeted by ransomware, 10 million are claimed

The Sud-Francilien Hospital Center (CHSF) in Corbeil-Essonnes, south-east of Paris, has been the victim of a cyberattack since the night of Saturday to Sunday around 1 a.m., seriously disrupting its services and the care of patients. emergencies, possibly for weeks, depending on his direction.

A major hack in a hospital in Essonne

A ransom demand of 10 million dollars, formulated in English, was demanded by the hackers, a police source told AFP. The Essonne hospital center launched a “white plan” on Sunday, that is to say an emergency plan to ensure continuity of care.

“The IT specialists noticed a malfunction. They thought it was a breakdown (…) but when there was a ransom demand of 10 million dollars, they understood”testifies Gilles Calmes, the director of the hospital.

The hospital’s business software, storage systems (including medical imaging) and the information system with access to patient admissions, have been made inaccessible according to management. Despite this degraded mode which requires the use of paper records, hospitalized patients are not affected, said management.

The South Ile-de-France Hospital Center (CHSF) provides health coverage for a population of nearly 600,000 inhabitants of the outer suburbs. But new admissions are complicated and emergency patients are directly referred by the SAMU to other establishments in the region. Deprogramming of the operating theater is to be feared.

An investigation is open

The Minister of Health, François Braun, judged on Twitter the attack “unspeakable” and said to expect legal action against the perpetrators. For its part, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation for intrusion into the computer system and attempted extortion in an organized gang, supervised by its cybercrime section. The investigations were entrusted to the gendarmes of the Center for the Fight against Digital Crime (C3N), added the prosecution. In addition, the National Authority for the Security and Defense of Information Systems (Anssi) was quickly contacted by the crisis unit.

One thing is certain: the hospital center will not pay, assures its director. “The modus operandi is always the same: attack from Saturday to Sunday at 1:00 a.m., ransom demand at 5:00 a.m. We also looked at what happened to colleagues. What we have understood is that it can go up to a three-week unavailability”he said.

Other hospitals in the viewfinder

A wave of cyberattacks has been targeting the French and European hospital sector for about two years. In 2021, Anssi recorded an average of one incident per week in a health establishment in France. To fight against this growing phenomenon, the State devoted, after the Covid-19 epidemic, an envelope of 25 million euros to the cybersecurity of health establishments.

At the same time, 135 hospitals have been designated “essential service operators”, which requires them to comply with more stringent cybersecurity rules than ordinary institutions.