AIIMS cyber attack | Investigations dig deep amidst the chaos

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Regarding the cyberattack on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on November 23, security agencies have been in touch with consulting company Ernst and Young (E&Y). Patients are suffering significant inconveniences as a result of the attack crippling the servers and e-hospital services at the top public healthcare facility in the nation. In the middle of this year, AIIMS hired E&Y, a third party, to audit its cyber systems. According to the insider, the attack on the servers of the AIIMS allegedly started approximately two months ago at the direction of state-sponsored actors from a nearby nation.

“AIIMS servers were running on software called Zimbra that specialises in email services. The vulnerabilities in Zimbra were known as early as February this year. It is to be seen what prudent steps were taken by AIIMS to check the loopholes,” the source said. Zimbra is owned by the U.S.-based Synacor, a software and services company.