Cyber-attack targets IT firm used by Northern Ireland's health service

NI health officials have shut down the health system's access to an IT company's services after the firm was affected by a cyber-attack.

The Department of Health said "contingency measures" are in place after the ransomware attack on Advanced.

The firm provides digital services like patient check-in.

At this stage, there is no direct affect on services, including patient records or pay roll.

However, as a precaution and to avoid risk to other critical systems, access to the company's services was disabled by the Northern Ireland health service.

The company works with a range of NHS bodies, providing a number of different services including patient records, emergency prescriptions and support for NHS 111.

It provides the IT system that supports finance, procurement and logistics across Northern Ireland's health and social services.

Northern Ireland's Department of Health said that contingency measures have been instigated, including for all health trusts.

A spokesperson said: "The priority is on keeping any disruption to a minimum."

The BBC understands that the incident could take weeks or months to be resolved.

Ransomware hackers take control of IT systems, steal data and demand a payment from victims to recover.

The incident is related to a cyber-attack first reported last week.

The Department of Health statement said that it was "grateful for the co-operation of suppliers, given the temporary absence of normal processes for ordering and payments".

"Alternative processes have been implemented to ensure minimal impact to suppliers, including manual processing in a number of areas."

The UK data watchdog has confirmed it was aware of the incident.