NATIONAL Health Service said on Friday it was investigating claims that hackers had published confidential data stolen from several London hospitals in a cyber attack on a blood testing lab.
Services at large London hospitals including Guy's, St Thomas' and King's services were still being disrupted following the attack by hackers reportedly demanding ransom from Synnovis, a lab company that provides testing services, on June 3.
"NHS England has been made aware that the cybercriminal group published data last night which they are claiming belongs to Synnovis and was stolen as part of this attack," the state-run unit said.
"We understand that people may be concerned by this and we are continuing to work with Synnovis, the National Cyber Security Centre and other partners to determine the content of the published files as quickly as possible."
At the affected hospitals, test processing is still at reduced levels and more than 1,000 elective procedures and 2,000 appointments have been cancelled since the incident.
According to the BBC, Russian cybercriminal group Qilin shared almost 400 gigabytes of data – including patient names, dates of birth, NHS numbers, and descriptions of blood tests - on their darknet site and Telegram channel.
Spreadsheets containing financial arrangements between hospitals and GP services and Synnovis were also published, the BBC reported.
The hackers have demanded a ransom of £40 million, The Telegraph reports.
Synnovis, in a statement on Friday, said: “We know how worrying this development may be for many people. We are taking it very seriously and an analysis of this data is already underway.” (Agencies)
Clifford had previously pleaded guilty to the murders of BBC sports commentator John Hunt’s wife and two daughters at their home in northwest of London, in July 2024. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Crossbow murderer found guilty of raping ex-girlfriend
A 26-YEAR-OLD man who murdered three women in a crossbow and stabbing attack has been found guilty of raping one of them, his ex-girlfriend, a British court ruled on Thursday.
Kyle Clifford had previously pleaded guilty to the murders of BBC sports commentator John Hunt’s wife and two daughters at their home in Bushey, northwest of London, in July 2024.
The attack led to a manhunt before Clifford was found injured hours later in a north London cemetery.
A jury at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday convicted Clifford of raping 25-year-old Louise Hunt before killing her.
His sentencing for all the crimes is scheduled for Tuesday.
Clifford had admitted to murdering Carol Hunt, 61, and her daughters Louise and Hannah, 28. He had also pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment and possessing offensive weapons but denied raping Louise.
During the trial, the court heard that after killing Carol Hunt, Clifford waited for an hour before attacking Louise, tying her up, raping her, and then killing her with a crossbow. He later killed Hannah when she returned home from work.
The prosecution described Clifford, a former soldier, as committing a "violent, sexual act of spite" and said he was "enraged" after Louise ended their 18-month relationship. They told the court that he had "carefully planned" the attack.
Less than 24 hours before the killings, Clifford had searched for a podcast by social media influencer Andrew Tate, according to the prosecution. They argued that the murders were driven by the "violent misogyny promoted" by Tate.
Justice Joel Bennathan called Clifford’s crimes "dreadful" and "almost unspeakable".
(With inputs from AFP)