Systems Offline at National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) in South Africa
The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) has confirmed that it experienced an information technology (IT) security breach compromising its systems and infrastructure. A preliminary investigation, suggests that no patient data has been lost or compromised. The organisation’s systems remain inaccessible both internally and externally, including to and from healthcare facilities until the integrity of the environment is secured and repaired.
“It has been established that sections of our system have been deleted, including in our backup server and this will require rebuilding the affected parts. Stakeholders and the public will be informed as soon as more information becomes available. all of its laboratories are currently fully functional and are receiving and processing clinical samples.
Under normal circumstances, the laboratory reports are automatically generated and sent to clinicians or made available on web view, but the incident has disabled that functionality. “However, all urgent results are communicated telephonically to requesting clinicians.”