AIIMS MEDICAL RECORDS OF VIPS UNLIKELY TO HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED BY HACKERS

Unlike e-records of general patients, the medical records of VIPS are stored in a physical form.

The perpetrators behind the cyberattack on the computer network system at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi, which was discovered on 23 November, have failed to achieve their likely objective of getting possession of personal medical details of individuals who come in the Very Important Persons (VIP) category and had in the past or are still taking medical care at the hospital.

AIIMS Delhi, in most cases, is the first stop for Delhibased politicians, Members of Parliament, members of the higher judiciary and of the bureaucracy for taking medical treatment because of the expertise the hospital offers and the “privileges” they get there.

However, unlike in the case of a common patient, whose details are stored electronically and for which an erecord is created and which has likely been compromised by the cyber terrorists in this recent incident, the details and medical records of VIPS are stored in a physical form. Even the medical samples of such VIPS are collected and collated while assigning them a bar code, rather than through the name of the person who has given the said sample, to maintain anonymity and privacy.

“It can be said with some degree of certainty that the medical records of the VIPS, which could have been misused with disastrous consequences, remained out of touch in the recent attack,” an official source told The Sunday Guardian.

Highly placed sources, aware of the matter, have confirmed to The Sunday Guardian that the attackers have indeed demanded a ransom amount to provide access to the files that they have taken in their control. However, these demands have been ignored by the decision makers.

The servers that were