Lessons learnt in medical laboratories during a disruptive cyber-attack

Since healthcare institutions are progressively becoming primary targets of cyber-attacks that could compromise patient information and prevent medical personnel from providing diagnostics, treatments and other essential services, cyber security has become a mainstay in the field. Strengthening cybersecurity and, in particular, developing recovery plans that will allow laboratory operations to continue during prolonged periods of IT system failure are essential for the future. In this respect, a set of measures can be identified to reinforce the protection of medical laboratories from cyber-attacks. In this article we describe in detail the specific recovery plan that was activated at our local institution after a disruptive cyber-attack.