Attack ‘had no effect on Welsh NHS systems’

FIRST Minister Carwyn Jones has said there has been no effect on Wales computer systems after a cyber attack.

Despite thousands of organisations and industries in more than 150 countries, Wales has not been impacted.

NHS England and NHS Scotland both reported disruption to their systems.

Routine surgery and GP appointments were cancelled across the NHS as it recovers from the global outbreak.

But he said there has been some changes made to computer systems and hospital appointments in Wales to further protect systems in Wales.

External emails were temporarily blocked and some radiotherapy appointments were rescheduled at Cardiff’s Velindre hospital.

In a statement, Mr Jones said: “The Ransomware has not affected the integrity of NHS systems here in Wales, partly due to the resilience defences already in place. To continue to protect NHS Wales from disruption a number of extra security controls have been put in place.

“This included temporarily blocking all external emails sent to NHS Wales and applying new anti-virus definitions and patches to both national and local systems. This work is expected to be completed today.

“Where the ransomware has been detected, immediate remedial action has been taken to prevent the spreading of the virus. This has ensured that no patient data has been compromised or lost.

“We have no reports of the incident impacting on patient care. However, to allow precautionary patching of their systems, Velindre Hospital rescheduled radiotherapy appointments for a small cohort of patients (40 in total) from Monday to Tuesday.”

Mr Jones said that across the rest of Wales’ public sector, local government bodies and schools have confirmed that no instances have been reported and no active malware has been found on their systems.

He added: “As a precautionary measure emergency patching has taken place in line with industry updates and best practice.

“We have written to all local authorities asking them to provide details of any issues found, along with the mitigations they are putting in place.

“The Public Sector Broadband Aggregation network, which connects most of the public sector in Wales together, has also confirmed that it has not been affected. Welsh Government has provided advice and guidance to all Welsh Government Sponsored Public Bodies and asked them to report anything suspicious to Welsh Government.

“We are continuing to monitor the situation and taking action where risks is identified, including working with COBR, the UK Government’s emergency response committee. I would like to thank all of the IT Teams across NHS Wales and the wider public sector who have worked tirelessly throughout the weekend to protect our public services.”