New Delhi: The cyber attack on the server of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi was carried out by Chinese hackers, government sources said.
It has been said that the attack was carried out from China. Out of 100 servers (40 physical and 60 virtual), five physical servers were successfully infiltrated by hackers. Data in the five servers have been successfully retrieved now.
“AIIMS Delhi server attack was by the Chinese, FIR details that the attack had originated from China. Of 100 servers (40 physical and 60 virtual), five physical servers were successfully infiltrated by the hackers. The damage would have been far worse but is now contained. Data in the five servers have been successfully retrieved now,” news agency ANI reported citing sources from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
System failure first observed on 23 November
The system glitch was first reported on November 23 and two days later a case of extortion and cyber terrorism was registered by the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police. However, the police denied reports that the hackers demanded Rs 200 crore in cryptocurrency as ransom to restore the system.
Working in manual mode
From the system of appointments to billing and sharing of reports with patients and between departments, almost all the services in the institute were online. After the hack, additional staff was deployed at AIIMS as all work was switched to manual mode.
Every year around 38 lakh patients including top political leaders, bureaucrats and judges get treated at AIIMS. Top intelligence and counter-terrorism agencies besides IT emergency teams worked on the case as all the over 5,000 computers and servers were scanned.
