Hospitals gradually recover from hack

HOSPITALS across south west Victoria and Gippsland are in the process of slowly restoring their systems after they were hacked on September 30.

Most of the systems that had to be detached in order to quarantine the virus are now working normally.

Specialists, both state and federal, have been working to restore these systems, though some hospitals are still without email.

The virus was enabled through a phishing email which is a fraudulent email that tries to deceive people into revealing sensitive information.

Because of the security breach, some of the affected hospitals had to cancel elective surgeries.

In the days following the attack, Barwon Health chief executive officer Frances Diver told Melbourne radio that 27 elective surgeries had been cancelled.

But by Wednesday October 9, Barwon Health did not have to reschedule any more elective surgeries and no patient data had been stolen despite fears this was the case.

Last week South West Healthcare (SWH) chief executive officer Craig Foster said restoring systems would be a gradual process.

“It will continue to be challenging until we restore all computer functions across SWH – which will occur over time and once we have confidence no risks remain.”

In May, Victoria’s Auditor-General showed the fragility of Victorian hospitals’ cyber security by using “basic hacking tools” to access sensitive patient information, including Barwon Health.

The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) said at the time that “staff awareness of data security is low”. This makes techniques such as email phishing more effective for hackers.