By the editorial staff of Allodocteurs.fr

Written on
02/18/2021

After Rouen hospital in 2020 and Dax hospital in early February, a new computer attack targeted Villefranche-sur-Saône hospital on Monday February 15. The principle is simple: software blocks computer data before asking for a ransom to recover them. They are called ransomware.

Four days later, access to computers was not restored, and caregivers had to adapt: ​​”It’s complicated because we are still in a health crisis, and that adds an additional difficulty within the teams , testifies Véronique Faure, paramedical health manager. Since Monday, it is a monster paperwork, that is to say that everything is written, everything is handwritten, it multiplies the papers in the patient’s care file. “

An opportunity for hackers

With the health crisis, hospitals have become easy targets for hackers. “We really have the feeling that a psychological barrier has fallen among hackers”, explains Cyrille Politi, digital transition advisor for the Hospital Federation of France. “They tell themselves that the hospitals are very busy and that they are going to be in a weak state. There is a windfall effect and an opportunity to make money.”

However, there is little risk for the personal data of patients according to Cyrille Politi: “Health data has real value when it is put together as a cohort of patients for research purposes. The hacker has more interest in locking us in and to ask us a ransom to go and steal health data from us. “