Nearly eight months after a massive malware attack at AIIMS online services, another attempt was made on Tuesday to breach the leading central government hospital’s cyber infrastructure but was “successfully thwarted,” said government officials.

“A malware attack was detected at 1450 hrs by the cyber-security systems in AIIMS, New Delhi. The attempt was successfully thwarted, and the threat was neutralised,” the hospital administration said. The e-hospital services remain fully secure and are functioning normally, AIIMS clarified in an official statement.

Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, however, ruled out any incident of cyber breach. “E-Hospital.aiims.edu is an internal application not available for internet users. Someone may have tried accessing this portal and alert generated due to security layer used by AIIMS. Same person may have taken a screenshot of error message and circulated it,” Chadrasekhar told media.

The error messages have also been rectified now, he pointed out. AIIMS has not reached out to police for any assistance to trace possible footprints of cyber trolling.

In November 2022, following a sophisticated ransomware attack, AIIMS’ e-facilities were paralysed for weeks causing inconvenience to patients and hospital staff. The case was later handed over for a joint probe by CERTin and NIA since it was suspected that professional hackers, outsourced by inimical countries, were behind the cyber attack meant to steal health data of not just ordinary persons but of ministers and other government servants.

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