Hacker attack on AMEOS clinics: IT systems switched off by Thursday!

Hacker attack on AMEOS clinics: IT systems switched off by Thursday!

Bremen, Deutschland - On Monday evening, a hacker attack paralyzed the IT systems of the Ameos clinics in Bremen and Bremerhaven. As a result of this attack, the company switched off all networks as a precaution to protect the systems. This reports Buten un inner . Over 100 health facilities are affected at more than 50 locations in German -speaking countries, which resulted in significant restrictions in the clinic.

annually the AMEOS group provides more than 500,000 patients and is therefore one of the largest health service providers in Germany. Despite the cyber attack, patient care remains secured; Emergency rooms and other therapeutic services are still available. The medical devices also work perfectly, so that the supply is not impaired.

more details on the incident

The failure initially affected internal digital communication, including the transmission of laboratory data and email traffic, which is now necessary to contact general practitioners, pharmacies and nursing services. This makes it inevitably more complicated for employees to maintain the clinic. Expert teams have been working on graduating from the IT systems since Thursday evening, and some medical applications are already available again, such as t-online supplemented.

The exact details of the attack are so far unclear, there is no information about the identity or the procedure of the attackers. There is also also a debate whether it is a ransomware attack, in which data may have been encrypted or even stolen. This means that the incident falls into a worrying series of cyber attacks that affect the healthcare system.

Overview of the cyber attacks in healthcare

like Ärzteblatt are reported in healthcare Ancestrial. In 2022, the Federal Criminal Police Office registered over 136,000 attacks, with only one tenth incident appeared at all. The industry is one of the most common goals of hackers, and in particular ransomware attacks have increased dramatically in recent years.

The increasing networking in healthcare makes clinics and practices more susceptible to such attacks because the digital infrastructure is becoming increasingly important. In many cases, cyber attacks come from infected email attachments or phishing tests, which can be deducted from users.

The situation impressively shows how important it is to take digital security in healthcare seriously in order to ensure patient care not only today but also in the future.