NHS Dumfries and Galloway has been targeted in a cyber-attack that’s “focused and ongoing.”

The Scots health board said in a statement to DIGIT today (15 March 2024) that it’s working with Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Agency, and the Scottish government to resolve the situation.

The statement included a warning that the hackers could have acquired a “significant quantity of data,” and that the board has “reason to believe that this could include patient-identifiable and staff-identifiable data.”

Work is currently ongoing together with the cybersecurity agencies to investigate what data may have been accessed.

The health board also said that there may be some disruption to services due to the situation.

“We are encouraging everyone, staff and public, to be on their guard for any attempt to access their systems or approaches from anyone claiming to be in possession of data relating to them,” the board advised.

“In any of these situations, contact Police Scotland immediately by phoning 101.

“A dedicated web-page has been established on the NHS Dumfries and Galloway website, available at this address: https://www.nhsdg.co.uk/cyberattack.”

Jude McCorry, CEO of the Cyber and Fraud Centre — Scotland, said: “We have seen a worrying increase in attacks over the last few weeks in both public and private sector.

“If anyone needs support please contact our Incident Response line – but please start looking at your cyber resilience plan.”

This is a developing story.