French Hospital Halts Operations After Cyber-Attack

A hospital in the Parisian suburb of Versailles was forced offline over the weekend, leading to the cancellation of all operations and the transfer of some patients, according to local reports.

The André-Mignot hospital in Chesnay-Rocquencourt, Yvelines, was struck by a cyber-attack at 9pm local time on Saturday evening, turning some computer screens black, according to Franceinfo.

Six patients have been transferred from the facility’s intensive care and neonatal units to nearby hospitals, as staff struggle to maintain care levels and keep outpatient services running, added an AFP report.

Health minister, Francois Braun, is quoted as saying that the attack has led to a “total reorganization of the hospital,” with extra staff needed in intensive care because several critical machines require monitoring more closely as they are no longer networked.

Although not mentioned explicitly in reports so far, the attack on the 700-bed hospital looks to be the work of ransomware actors.

If so, it follows a major ransomware attack on another facility near Paris in September this year. The Centre Hospitalier Sud Francilien (CHSF) in Corbeil-Essonnes was forced back to pen and paper after being hit with a $10m ransom demand by the LockBit 3.0 group.

A few months earlier, the GHT Cœur Grand Est hospital group said it had been forced to cut internet connectivity to its Vitry-le-François and Saint-Dizier hospitals after receiving a $1.3m ransom demand.

As in the CHSF attack, the hackers followed through on their threats by posting sensitive patient information they stole online.

There’s no word yet whether the group that breached the André-Mignot hospital succeeded in stealing any data during the raid.