DHB Computer Hit with Malicious Virus

While being upgraded on Thursday, the computer system of the Waikato District Health Board was attacked by a malicious virus, which led to the entire system's shut down.

It has been reported that hospital staff across the Waikato DHB area immediately shut down about 3000 computers when they were attacked by the Conficker virus, and parts of the system were able to be put back into use last night.

Calling the attack "random" and a part of the ongoing appearance of Malware", Health Ministry's Deputy Director General of Health Information Directorate, Alan Hesketh, shared that the board has previously managed to defend itself against such attacks on numerous occasions.

"When they were going through this upgrade, clearly some vulnerability was exposed, and taken advantage of. The particular worm they've got is out there all the time. We see attempts to get into our (IT) environment at least five or six times a week. We're concerned about it, and that's why all the DHBs have controls in place", Mr. Hesketh.

Despite the fact that all the board's systems were connected, there have been no reports of the virus attacking any other IT system, which has led the organization to heave a sigh of relief.