A Cyberattack Shutdown The University Hospital Centre Zagreb In Croatia

A cyberattack shut down the University Hospital Centre Zagreb in Croatia

Pierluigi Paganini
June 28, 2024

A cyber attack started targeting the University Hospital Centre Zagreb (KBC Zagreb) on Wednesday night, reported the Croatian Radiotelevision.

A cyber attack began targeting the University Hospital Centre Zagreb (KBC Zagreb), the largest Croatian hospital, on Wednesday night, according to a report by Croatian Radiotelevision.

The hospital has shut down its IT infrastructure in response to the cyber attack.

Milivoj Novak, assistant director of health care quality and supervision of KBC Zagreb, said in tonight’s show “Otvoreno” that the shutdown of the IT system took the hospital back 50 years – to paper and pencil. It’s unclear if the hospital was victim of a ransomware attack.

Later Novak said in a press conference that all the services, including the hospital’s emergency service and medical laboratories, were fully recovered.

However, the temporary impossibility of printing out medical reports and staff having to write them by hand caused significant delays. It’s also confirmed that some patients will be redirected to other hospitals.

Initial investigation confirmed that patients’ medical records were not exfiltrated.

The hospital did not reveal the type of attack that hit its systems, however, HelpnetSecurity reported that this week a series of DDoS attacks targeted the websites of several Croatian government and financial institutions, including the Ministry of Finance, the Tax Administration, the Croatian National Bank, the Economic Bank of Zagreb, and the Zagreb Stock Exchange.

The pro-Russia group NoName claimed responsibility for the attack but declared that the collective is not involved in attacks on Croatian medical facilities.

“We are not involved in attacking medical facilities in Croatia or any other country. We have a principle of not touching medical facilities. We are at war with russophobic authorities, not civilians!”

“And the fact that Croatian officials can’t protect their internet infrastructure in the medical field, but find money to sponsor the banderaites, should really raise questions from Croatian citizens to their russophobic government.”