Websites of Singapore public hospitals, polyclinics down due to 'internet access disruption'

[SGMCF328]

In this digital era, our government need to take network reliability and cyber security seriously. Unlike the in the case of service disruption brought upon by DBS and M1 in the past few months, if hospital network is down and the doctor are not able to retrieve patient's record timely, it could be a life and death situation!

Websites of Singapore public hospitals, polyclinics down due to 'internet access disruption'

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-hospitals-errors-websites-not-loading-healthcare-polyclinics-3888231

SINGAPORE: The websites of all public hospitals and polyclinics in Singapore were down on Wednesday (Nov 1), with users reporting errors when trying to access them in the morning.

Attempts to access the websites produced error messages saying their URLs could not be retrieved.

The issue is due to an "internet access disruption" affecting all public healthcare clusters, said Synapxe, the national health tech agency.

"Services requiring internet applications like websites, emails and the NUHS (National University Health System) contact centre are inaccessible," said the agency at about 1.45pm.

It added that clinical services within the public healthcare network, such as access to patient records, remain accessible and unaffected.

"We are currently working to resolve the issue and apologise for any inconvenience caused," said Synapxe, whose website was also inaccessible.

The agency supports the operations of 46 public healthcare institutions, including acute hospitals and polyclinics, as well as around 1,400 community partners such as nursing homes and general practitioners.

Singapore's public healthcare system is grouped into three clusters - SingHealth which runs hospitals and polyclinics in the east, the National Healthcare Group in the central region and NUHS in the west.

The websites of Singapore General Hospital, National University Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital were among those affected.

The website of the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) was also inaccessible.

Websites of private hospitals, such as Mount Elizabeth Novena and Raffles Medical Group, appear to be unaffected.

The Ministry of Health and HealthHub websites were working.

CNA has contacted the hospitals, healthcare clusters, AIC and the Infocomm Media Development Authority for more information.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

[PSP415]

On 11/1/2023 at 3:55 PM, SGMCF328 said:

In this digital era, our government need to take network reliability and cyber security seriously. Unlike the in the case of service disruption brought upon by DBS and M1 in the past few months, if hospital network is down and the doctor are not able to retrieve patient's record timely, it could be a life and death situation!

Websites of Singapore public hospitals, polyclinics down due to 'internet access disruption'

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-hospitals-errors-websites-not-loading-healthcare-polyclinics-3888231

SINGAPORE: The websites of all public hospitals and polyclinics in Singapore were down on Wednesday (Nov 1), with users reporting errors when trying to access them in the morning.

Attempts to access the websites produced error messages saying their URLs could not be retrieved.

The issue is due to an "internet access disruption" affecting all public healthcare clusters, said Synapxe, the national health tech agency.

"Services requiring internet applications like websites, emails and the NUHS (National University Health System) contact centre are inaccessible," said the agency at about 1.45pm.

It added that clinical services within the public healthcare network, such as access to patient records, remain accessible and unaffected.

"We are currently working to resolve the issue and apologise for any inconvenience caused," said Synapxe, whose website was also inaccessible.

The agency supports the operations of 46 public healthcare institutions, including acute hospitals and polyclinics, as well as around 1,400 community partners such as nursing homes and general practitioners.

Singapore's public healthcare system is grouped into three clusters - SingHealth which runs hospitals and polyclinics in the east, the National Healthcare Group in the central region and NUHS in the west.

The websites of Singapore General Hospital, National University Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital were among those affected.

The website of the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) was also inaccessible.

Websites of private hospitals, such as Mount Elizabeth Novena and Raffles Medical Group, appear to be unaffected.

The Ministry of Health and HealthHub websites were working.

CNA has contacted the hospitals, healthcare clusters, AIC and the Infocomm Media Development Authority for more information.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Access to patients records are not affected. 

Seriously, did u read the whole article? 😅

[SGMCF328]

On 11/1/2023 at 4:12 PM, PSP415 said:

Access to patients records are not affected. 

Seriously, did u read the whole article? 😅

I read the whole article and am aware that access to patient's records is unaffected. BUT, I am trying to highlight the vulnerability of digitalization. While it is good (and I strongly support it) for both the patient and medical staff, if there is any disruption to the system, it would spell disaster.

Call me paranoid but it good to be safe than sorry. My boss always said these to us, plan for the worst, hope for the best and you can sleep soundly every night.

 

[Blueray]

Why ERP never down ?

[macrosszero]

On 11/1/2023 at 4:49 PM, Blueray said:

Why ERP never down ?

Only COE up.

Anyway I just checked a couple of the main hospitals that their websites are back online. 

[Soya]

On 11/1/2023 at 4:49 PM, Blueray said:

Why ERP never down ?

Not juz ERP, COE bidding site oso sibei reliable 

The cyberworld needs to learn from LTA....

 

[Jamesc]

Please don't let COE system down!

I cannot get cars for my customers

[Blueray]

On 11/1/2023 at 5:07 PM, Soya said:

Not juz ERP, COE bidding site oso sibei reliable 

The cyberworld needs to learn from LTA....

 

actually our IT infrastructure like not very robust lei ... got internet down, banks down and now hospital down. 

[Soya]

On 11/1/2023 at 5:15 PM, Blueray said:

actually our IT infrastructure like not very robust lei ... got internet down, banks down and now hospital down. 

But LTA IT that's designed to suck $$ from us sibei bestest robust sia

 

[Inlinefour]

Goose laying Platinum Eggs are well protected cos we don't have natural resources to feed those multimillionaire

 

 

Job is to ensure their payout not the wellbeing of the island and residents 

[limpeh6969]

i suspect the backend systems are maintained by ppl who constantly shake their heads

[Tkseah]

Hmm.. who ddos us?

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/hospital-websites-hours-long-disruption-synapxe-ddos-attacks-3894866

[Blueray]

aint Jo Teo cyber security ministar ? 

[Tkseah]

Me think we kanna ddos by pple who buay song SG gov friend friend with Israel...

[Blueray]

Not I say one, PMO website say one.

 

[13177]

On 11/3/2023 at 7:17 PM, Blueray said:

aint Jo Teo cyber security ministar ? 

This one cannot make it minister again! 🙄

[Blueray]

On 11/4/2023 at 12:54 PM, 13177 said:

This one cannot make it minister again! 🙄

if DDoS attack on public healthcare system is not a cyber security issue then I dunno what is ...

this one for sure cannot blame aircon not power enough. 

Edited November 4, 2023 by Blueray

[SGMCF328]

On 11/4/2023 at 1:10 PM, Blueray said:

if DDoS attack on public healthcare system is not a cyber security issue then I dunno what is ...

this one for sure cannot blame aircon not power enough. 

Ultimately, there is a flaw in the security system design, since it doesn't work as intended. But as usual, our minister just conveniently push the blame to the service provider. 😒 If they don't need to shoulder any responsibility, why do we need to pay these "postman" millions of $$$ every year? 😤
 

Public healthcare IT provider to improve systems and processes to better respond to future attacks

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/public-healthcare-it-provider-to-improve-systems-and-processes-to-better-respond-to-future-attacks

National healthcare IT provider Synapxe said on Nov 20 that it will step up defences against cyber attacks, after a recent strike downed the web services of public hospitals and polyclinics.

Synapxe said it will “strengthen its system design” to make it more resilient against new forms of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in future.

A DDoS attack caused a seven-hour disruption of the web services of public healthcare institutions on Nov 1, the IT provider confirmed after joint investigations with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore.

Synapxe said it has a “layered defence” designed to detect and respond to cyberthreats, including DDoS attacks. This includes system backups, services that block abnormal surges in Internet traffic before they enter the public healthcare network, and firewalls.

However, an abnormal surge in network traffic – detected at 9.15am on Nov 1 – bypassed the blocking service and overwhelmed Synapxe’s firewall behind the blocks, the IT provider said earlier.

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by SGMCF328