A technical analysis carried out by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) about the cyberattack on AIIMS has revealed that the government-run hospital’s IT networks were compromised “by unknown threat actors due to inadequate network segmentation,” Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.
In a written response to the Rajya SabhaChandrasekhar said that after AIIMS reported the cyber incident, the Cert In investigation revealed that the attack, caused by inadequate network segmentation, “caused operational disruption due to non-functionality of critical applications.”
The cyberattack on the state hospital lasted for more than 15 days during November and December. Chandrasekhar had said then that the attack was “a conspiracy and planned by forces” that were significant.
“It is clearly a conspiracy and it has been masterminded by forces that are quite significant. It is a sophisticated ransomware attack,” Chandrasekhar had said then.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi faced a cyber attack on November 23, crippling its servers.
On November 25, the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police registered a case of extortion and cyber terrorism.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Delhi Cyber Crime Special Cell, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, the Intelligence Bureau, the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI), the National University of Forensic Sciences, the National Center for Critical Information Infrastructure Protection, and the NIA, among others, are investigating the cyberattack.
Some experts have also called for government departments to be more accountable as they handle a large amount of sensitive personal data.
Experts said that healthcare data breaches will become more common, especially in India.
CloudSEK cybersecurity data reveals that the number of cyberattacks against the healthcare industry globally increased by 95.34% in the first four months of 2022 compared to the previous year.
