Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH) experienced a significant cyberattack that disrupted patient care.
The public disclosure of the attack a week ago revealed that several systems had gone offline, resulting in the postponement of scheduled operations and appointments.
WUTH, a UK public healthcare organisation, manages Arrowe Park Hospital, Clatterbridge Hospital, and Wirral Women and Children’s Hospital. Together, these hospitals provide a total of 855 beds.
WUTH offers 24-hour emergency care, emergency medical services, critical care, surgery, diagnostics, paediatrics, maternity care, and cancer therapy. However, service outages and delays have recently hampered its operations.
The hospital said in a statement, “a major incident has been declared at the Trust for cyber security reasons.” The ongoing system outages have severely impacted operations, leaving patients and staff facing uncertainty.
After the incident, WUTH shifted to manual operations and pulled several IT systems offline, which caused delays and interruptions in service. In order to prevent overloading the system, WUTH advised the public to use emergency services only for true emergencies in a statement posted on its website.
Although the nature of the attack on WUTH has not been officially confirmed, the response suggests it may have involved ransomware. No ransomware group has claimed responsibility, and it remains unclear whether any data was compromised. The incident forms part of a worrying increase in security breaches within the UK healthcare sector.
The UK government aims to strengthen the country’s cybersecurity system by introducing a Cyber Security Resilience Bill the following year in response to these challenges.
WUTH staff are putting patient safety first while IT professionals handle the situation and get everything back to normal. The fact that WUTH’s website no longer displays the cyberattack notice is noteworthy since it shows that the systems have stabilised and are now completely functional.
Hospitals are often targeted by ransomware due to outdated systems and limited resources. The attack on WUTH underscores the growing cybersecurity threats facing the healthcare industry. While operational disruptions are significant, similar incidents have led to data breaches and ransom demands elsewhere.
Robust cybersecurity countermeasures, such as advanced security measures and frequent system upgrades, can help to prevent unauthorised access and minimise ransomware attacks.
Since exchanging knowledge, resources, and best practices promotes a group defence against cyberattacks, cooperation inside the industry is equally important. Furthermore, creating comprehensive processes for incident response and business continuity ensures that businesses can minimise delays and continue vital activities in the unfortunate scenario of a cyberattack.
Successful ransomware attacks are most often preceded by phishing emails. Ensure your colleagues maintain a security-first mindset and strengthen your human firewall by starting Phishing Tackle’s security awareness training today with our two-week free trial.
