Malware attack detected at AIIMS; threat neutralised

New Delhi: A malware attack was detected at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here on Tuesday but the threat was neutralised by the deployed cyber-security systems at the institute, authorities said.

“A malware attack was detected at 1450 hrs today by the cyber-security systems deployed in AIIMS, New Delhi. The attempt was successfully thwarted, and the threat was neutralised by the deployed cyber-security systems. The e-Hospital services remain to be fully secure and are functioning normally,” the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said.

As rumours of a possible cyber attack began to spread, Minister of State for Electronics and Information and Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar took to Twitter to clarify that there was no cyber incident or breach.

“http://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 msg and circulated it,” he tweeted.

“There is no cyber incident or breach. Error msgs have also been rectified now,” he added.

The premier medical institute had come under a cyber attack last year where its servers were affected for many days.

Earlier in the day, aspirants, who appeared for the nursing officer recruitment exam by the AIIMS, allegedly claimed that they received screenshots and photos of more than 20 questions, which were a part of the question paper.

The students claim that the entire matter is a serious issue of hacking with candidates also alleging that the test was running on screens next to them and people were taking the exam by using ‘any desk’ and other remote controlling software. AIIMS had earlier conducted the Nursing Officer Recruitment Common Eligibility Test (NORCET-4) on June 3, in several cities for the appointment of 3,055 Nursing Officers at 19 AIIMS and Central government hospitals across the country.

The photographs and screenshots also showed the roll number of the candidates and the clock time of the three-hour-long test. Also, the photograph of the answer key to the test is also being circulated on social media platforms.

There were strict security arrangements in the examination that students are not allowed to take any rough paper with them. It’s a serious issue the matter should be investigated by the authorities of AIIMS.

NORCET is a common eligibility paper for the appointment of nursing officers in central government hospitals. It’s a computer-based test consisting of 200 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and runs for 180 minutes.