AIIMS Delhi Hit By Fresh Cyberattack For Second Time In A Year

The cyber-security systems at AIIMS New Delhi detected the attack at 2:50 pm on Tuesday, promptly taking action to neutralize the threat.

In a tweet, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi said, "A malware attack was detected at 14:50 hrs by the cyber-security systems in AIIMS, New Delhi. The attempt was successfully thwarted, and the threat was neutralised by the deployed cyber-security systems. The eHospital services remain to be fully secure and are functioning normally."

It is worth noting that AIIMS New Delhi had previously experienced a similar attack in November of the previous year, which resulted in the disruption of hospital registration, admission, and discharge services for a period of two weeks.

The server failure at AIIMS Delhi was initially reported on November 23, 2022. As a result of the incident, two analysts responsible for server security were suspended due to alleged breaches in cyber security protocols.

In response to the recent attack, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar tweeted, "E-Hospital.aiims.edu is an internal application not available for internet users. Someone may have tried accessing this portal, and the alert was generated due to the security layer used by AIIMS. The same person may have taken a screenshot of the error message and circulated it. There is no cyber incident or breach. Error messages have also been rectified now."

E-Hospital is an internal application intended solely for internal use and is inaccessible to the general public.

It was revealed in December of the previous year that the attack on AIIMS Delhi's computer server was carried out by Chinese hackers, according to a senior government source. The source stated that out of the 100 servers at AIIMS, five physical servers were successfully infiltrated by the hackers. However, the damage was contained, and data from the affected servers has been successfully retrieved.

"The AIIMS Delhi server attack was carried out by the Chinese, as detailed in the FIR, which states that the attack originated from China. Among the 100 servers (40 physical and 60 virtual), five physical servers were successfully infiltrated by the hackers. While the attack could have been much more severe, it has now been contained. Data from the affected servers has been successfully retrieved," revealed the source from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).