After AIIMS, Hackers Attacked ICMR Website 6,000 Times

New Delhi:  Days after a ransomware attack on AIIMS Delhi servers, a massive hacking attempt was made on the website of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), sources told NDTV on Tuesday, adding that 6,000 hacking attempts were made on India’s top medical body’s website on November 30.

The IP address, a unique address that identifies a device on the internet, was traced to a blacklisted IP based in Hong Kong. The ICMR website couldn’t be hacked due to the updated firewall and enhanced security measures by the top medical body, the report quoted sources as saying.

Delhi’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences was subject to a ransomware attack last month, affecting all almost sections of the hospital. The AIIMS Delhi servers were down for over 10 days, suggesting the severity of the attack which affected many services in the hospital. On December 4, the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, which is opposite AIIMS, faced a cyber attack as well, but the damage was not as severe compared with the attack on AIIMS.

Medical Superintendent Safdarjung Hospital Dr BL Sherwal said, “There was a cyberattack. Our server was also down in November for a single day, but data was secured. It was handled by IT, National informatics Centre (NIC) which revived the systems.”