Cannes Hospital Cyber Attack Postpones Non-Essential Surgeries

The Simone-Veil hospital, in Cannes (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur), has been targeted by a cyberattack since the morning of April 16, learned France 3 Côte d'Azur. As a result, certain activities are paralyzed.

Consultations also postponed

“Medical, non-medical, logistical, administrative and technical professionals are mobilized to carry out the necessary investigations”, explains the Cannes hospital. At this point, the health facility is talking about“technical incident”.

The Simone-Veil hospital immediately activated a crisis unit, in conjunction with the PACA regional health agency, the Alpes-Maritimes hospital group and the president of the establishment's medical commission. “The hospital center postpones the non-urgent scheduled activity, not resulting in loss of opportunity, specifies the establishment in its message. Consultations are also postponed until things return to normal.”

Hospitals regularly targeted

French hospitals have recently been the subject of cyberattacks. In February, that of Armentières (Hauts-de-France) was targeted, forcing it to temporarily close its emergency rooms. Ransom demands then came out of the establishment's printers, and two weeks later, management announced that the data of 300,000 patients had been stolen.

The Nantes University Hospital (Pays de la Loire) was also the victim of a denial of service (DDoS) attack in January. Its website was then out of service, as was sending and receiving emails and access to CHU tools from outside.

In the Southern region, other public establishments have been the target of cyberattacks. This is the case of the Alpes-Maritimes departmental council, in November 2022, whose ransomware attack was claimed by the Play hacker group. In June 2023, the website of Aix-Marseille University (80,000 students) became inaccessible. A cyberattack from “from a foreign country”according to university management.