Simulation of Cyber attack of the hospital systems

Simulation of Cyber attack of the hospital 

Cyber attack of the hospital computerized systems is a one of the most disastrous events that every hospital is fear of. Most of the systems of the hospital are based nowadays on computers and paralyzing the system will cause a chaos : no access to blood test results, no access to radiography, no access to patient medical records and more and more. The hospital should have a prepared plan to deal with such an event.

During the year 2022 a team from all the sectors of the hospital was assigned to discuss all aspects of such an attack and write a plan to deal with it. The main goal of the plan was to return all the vital systems back to work as soon as possible and to enable the medical teams to provide the necessary treatment to all patients. New necessary supplies of computerized systems and others were purchased to fight this sort of attack.

During December 2022, a simulation of a cyber attack event on the Barzilai computerized system was performed and all the communication systems of the hospital were paralyzed. As soon as an alarm signal was identified and calls from different parts of the hospital started to accumulate, all units of the hospital were ordered to turn to manual work and handwriting. Blood tests were delivered to the laboratory by a courier. All the employees of the computer system were called up to stop the attack and re-operate the systems.

Mr. Tzachi Cohen, the administrative manager, and Prof Hezi Levy, the director of the hospital, were very pleased with the results of the drill. Prof Levy said that should be prepared and be capable to deal with different catastrophes and be able to run the departments without the computerized systems. "We know that the health system is one of the most sensitive areas prone to cyber attack since it may result in loss of human lives", said Prof Levy. " I want to thank the people from the ministry of health and the hospitals divisions who played an important part in preparing this drill and to thank the hospital team who worked hard to prepare this drill. The drill was a great success to the hospital and many conclusions will be drawn from this drill.".