Emails containing patient medical information leaked in cyberattack on Israeli hospital

An initial probe into the cyberattack on the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center yesterday has indicated that emails sent to and from the hospital on September 25 were leaked in the attack, the Health Ministry and National Cyber Directorate say in a joint update.

Medical information included in those emails was also leaked, they say, but there is currently no indication that any data stored in the hospital’s main medical information management system was leaked.

The two bodies said yesterday that the attack was “blocked in its initial stages,” and reports suggested that the hospital’s core operations were able to continue uninterrupted.

According to a Ynet report yesterday, the cyber attack was carried out by Qilin, a Russian-speaking cybercrime organization thought to be based in Eastern Europe. The group also hacked into London hospitals last year, according to The Guardian, stopping tests and operations.