RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Grupo Fleury’s systems remain offline Wednesday after the clinical analytics and healthcare company fell victim to a ransomware attack the afternoon of the previous day, in which malicious code blocks access to systems or encrypts the victim’s data.
São Paulo-based Grupo Fleury is a victim of the malicious code (ransomware) Sodinokibi, the same that affected the meat company JBS earlier this month, and that the cybercriminals have demanded a ransom in bitcoin to release the information blocked by encryption.
The problem has prevented the execution of exams in the group’s units on Wednesday morning and that the supervisors are trying to work manually, without success.
The telephone answering service is also unavailable for scheduling exams or other services. A voice announcement informs that the systems are unavailable at the moment. The same message is displayed on the main page of the group’s website.
One of the network’s clients reported that a cardiac monitoring exam scheduled for today could not be performed after an hour’s wait and that most blood tests are not being performed.
Earlier this month, JBS paid a ransom of US$11 million in bitcoins to unlock operations in Australia, Canada, and the U.S. and prevent the disclosure of information from its databases.
When asked by Valor, Grupo Fleury did not comment on the ransomware attack. In a statement released Tuesday, the company said it is “prioritizing the restoration of services” that are unavailable due to the attempted external attack, and that operations will be restored “with all resources and technical efforts for a quick normalization” of services.
Grupo Fleury is a Brazilian healthcare company founded in 1926, whose main activity is providing medical services and diagnostic medicine.
With about 60 million exams performed in 2016, it is the second-largest company in the area in Brazil, behind DASA.
Among the group’s main brands are Fleury Medicina e Saúde, Labs D’Or, Campana, Weinmann and a+ Medicina Diagnóstica.
With information from Valor