London hospital services hit by ransomware incident

LONDON — A ransomware incident is having a significant impact on service delivery at some of London’s busiest hospitals, the region’s health service said Tuesday.

On Monday, Synnovis, a provider of laboratory services, was the victim of the incident, a spokesman for the state-run National Health Service (NHS) England for the London region said in a statement.

“This has a significant impact on service delivery at Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts and primary care services in south-east London,” the statement continued.

The health service said it was working “urgently” with the country’s main cybersecurity agency, the National Cyber ​​Security Centre (NCSC), and its own cyber operations team to fully understand the impact of the incident.

A cyber incident in May 2017 that caused corporate and government disruption around the world affected more than a third of England’s 236 NHS trusts and led to an estimated 19,000 appointments being cancelled within a week.