UPDATE, 6.30pm: The Australian Cyber Security Centre, one of the nation's top spy agencies, will now investigate the cyber attack alongside Victoria and Federal Police.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
David Cullen, the state government's principal advisor on cyber incidents, said "at this time" there was "no information to indicate that patient data has been compromised".
"This will be a long, complex and protracted forensic investigation," Mr Cullen said.
Mr Cullen could not say if it would take weeks or months to get the systems running again and why the two hospital networks were targeted, but no other government departments had been harmed.
UPDATE, 12.45pm: Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews says surgeries and outpatient care will be delayed after the south-west hospitals computer network was hacked in a ransomware attack.
Hospitals that are a part of the South West Alliance of Rural Health and Gippsland Health Alliance have been impacted.
"There will be some disruption to outpatient appointments, there'll be some disruption for non-urgent care, so elective surgery," Mr Andrews said.
The premier said that emergency procedures would not be affected.
The government was alerted to the attack on Monday and investigations by state and federal bodies are now under way.
The SWARH includes the Balmoral Bush Nursing Centre, Barwon Health, Barwon South Western Regional Integrated Cancer Centre, Casterton Memorial Hospital, Colac Area Health, Dartmoor Bush Nursing Centre, Hesse Rural Health Service, Heywood Rural Health, Lorne Community Hospital, Moyne Health Services, Otway Health & Community Services, Portland District Health, Southwest Healthcare (Warrnambool) Terang & Mortlake Health Services, Timboon Healthcare and Western District Health Services.
At 12.30pm: South-west hospitals have been forced to disconnect computer services in an effort to quarantine the impact of a cyber attack.
"Investigations are still taking place on the full extent of this impact," Warrnambool Base Hospital acting chief executive officer Andrew Trigg said.
"Patient safety has not been compromised and we are continuing to assess the situation.
"We have isolated and disconnected a number of systems, such as our internet, to quarantine the impact.
"The priority, now, is to fix all the affected systems and prevent any further compromise."
Mr Trigg said the hospital was reverting to manual systems where required to minimise disruption to patient services.
At 10.50am: South-west hospitals are in crisis mode after a cyber attack.
The South West Alliance of Rural Health - Warrnambool, Portland, Hamilton and Port Fairy hospitals - computer network has been hacked in a ransomware attack but the government insists patient information is safe.
Procedures may be delayed as the impacted hospitals revert to manual contact and booking systems.
The government confirmed on Tuesday hospitals that are a part of South West Alliance of Rural Health - Warrnambool, Portland, Hamilton and Port Fairy hospitals - and the Gippsland Health Alliance were attacked.
"The Victorian Cyber Incident Response Service has been deployed and worked with impacted health services overnight to respond to the attack," the Department of Premier and Cabinet said in a statement.
"The cyber incident, which was uncovered on Monday, has blocked access to several systems by the infiltration of ransomware, including financial management."
A "number" of servers across the state were hit and investigations are underway to reveal the extent.
But the government says "at this time there is no suggestion that personal patient information has been accessed".
Hospitals have isolated and disconnected a number of systems such as the internet to quarantine the infection.
"This isolation has led to the shutdown of some patient record, booking and management systems, which may impact on patient contact and scheduling," the statement says.
"Where practical, hospitals are reverting to manual systems to maintain their services."
The affected hospitals are now working on their bookings and scheduling to minimise impact on patients, but may need to reschedule some services where they don't have computer access to patient histories, charts, images and other information.
"Since launching 14 months ago, the Victorian Government Cyber Incident Response Service has responded to more than 600 cyber-attacks on Victorian Government organisations.
The SWARH includes the Balmoral Bush Nursing Centre, Barwon Health, Barwon South Western Regional Integrated Cancer Centre, Casterton Memorial Hospital, Colac Area Health, Dartmoor Bush Nursing Centre, Hesse Rural Health Service, Heywood Rural Health, Lorne Community Hospital, Moyne Health Services, Otway Health & Community Services, Portland District Health, Southwest Healthcare (Warrnambool) Terang & Mortlake Health Services, Timboon Healthcare and Western District Health Services.
Earlier: South-west hospitals are understood to be in crisis mode after a cyber attack.
It's suspected computer systems at some Victorian hospitals have been hacked in a ransomware attack.
Gippsland Hospital and Barwon Hospital are among those affected with the latter facility's entire network down since about 4pm on Monday afternoon, according to reports.
"We have been advised of some computer-type issues and we certainly are looking into what's behind it," a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said this morning.
It's understood that the Warrnambool, Portland, Hamilton and Port Fairy hospitals use a linked computer system which has been impacted.
It's being reported that the hospitals are in crisis mode.
A Warrnambool Base Hospital spokeswoman said she was waiting for a government-approved press release so information could be standardised.
"We've been told we can't comment," she said.
It's expected a government-approved media release will be available soon.
Radio 3AW is reporting the entire south-west network is believed to be down, with no medical results, no internet, no email and no patient records accessible by healthcare providers.
The hacking may impact surgeries scheduled for today.
More to come.
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.
