VsZP Faces Cyber-Attack, Health Care Not at Risk for Now

Bratislava, January 24 (TASR) - Another massive cyber-attack is underway against Slovakia, targeting state-owned health insurer VsZP, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) told a press briefing on Friday, adding that it was detected on Friday around noon and is still ongoing as well as that it is currently being successfully resisted. "The attack consisted in a huge number of attempts to obtain sensitive information from the VsZP information sources, which concerned all personal data and, most importantly, related to all diagnoses, including already prepared or already performed procedures that the patient had undergone," said the prime minister. If the attack is successful, he said, it will disable health-care provision in Slovakia. Sasko assured that for the time being there is no threat to the provision of any health care or services managed by the VsZP, also informing that both the VsZP and National Health Information Centre (NCZI) are currently in a crisis mode and constantly under control. "In the same way, I've issued instructions to all subordinate institutions and bodies of the Health Ministry, that is, especially to state hospitals," added Sasko. am/mcs