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Last year, a ransomware attack on the National Health Service caused patients to die, disrupting thousands of appointments and procedures at major London hospitals.
Synnovis, which handles blood tests on behalf of several NHS organizations, has released 400GB of information that he said was hacked by the Russian-speaking cybercrime group Qilin and then stolen from the provider.
The attack last June caused significant disruption at King’s College Hospital and the Department of Pathology at the NHS Foundation Trust in Guy and St. Thomas.
Newly reported deaths were caused in part by delayed blood test results for patients. The major incidents highlight additional digital security risks as a result of the increased use of private service providers by the NHS.
Last week, the Southeast London Integrated Care Commission said it had identified 170 cases of patient harm in connection with the attack, most of which were classified as “low harm.” Law enforcement investigations into cyberattacks are underway.
However, in a statement Wednesday, the Kings College Hospital Foundation Trust confirmed the death of a patient first reported by the Health Services Journal.
“Sadly, one patient sadly died unexpectedly during a cyberattack,” the spokesman said.
“Patient Safety Accident Investigations identified many contributors that led to patient death, including long waits for blood test results as a result of cyberattacks that affected pathology services at the time,” they added.
The healthcare industry has become increasingly vulnerable to cybercrime, and there is an increasing number of calls for independent expert reviews of NHS security risks.
Dr. Saif Abed, a former NHS physician and cybersecurity and public health expert, told the Financial Times he believes more patients have died in recent years than were publicly recorded due to data breaches.
“This tragic death is the tip of the iceberg. From my experience analyzing healthcare cyberattacks in the UK and around the world, it is almost certain that there have been more deaths over the years that have not been revealed due to the lack of official investigation,” he said.
“It is absolutely urgent to have an independent investigation into NHS cybersecurity and patient safety right now.”
Synnovis and NHS England did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
