Thousands of doctors and self-employed healthcare professionals had to revert to old-fashioned paper-and-pencil consultations this week after losing access to their professional software for a few days due to a cyberattack, according to concordant sources on Friday.
On Monday evening, Weda, a company that markets software used by doctors and other healthcare professionals such as midwives, "decided to temporarily suspend access to its platform" due to an "attempted intrusion," the company said in a statement released Friday.
"Partial access to the platform was restored on Friday around 9:30 AM, allowing essential functionalities to be restored in a secure and controlled environment," the company added.
"This gradual resumption aims to allow a reliable and sustainable restart without compromising the security of health data," she added.
Weda did not specify the exact number of caregivers who had their access cut off this week, but the company claimed 23,000 customers by the end of 2024.
Numerous local media outlets across France have reported on the difficulties encountered by Weda's clients in completing their mission.
"For us, losing access to our professional software is a bit like losing water and electricity and having 15 people to eat dinner in the evening," explained Dr. Philippe Mauboussin, a general practitioner in Eure, to AFP.
"We are losing access to our patients' files; we no longer have access to consultation reports, previous prescriptions, test results..."
Weda did not indicate in its press release whether any patient or caregiver data had been stolen by the cyber attackers.
The CNIL, the data protection authority, and ANSSI, the French cybersecurity agency, have been informed, and a complaint has been filed, the publisher indicated.
In a message to its members, the midwives' union ONSSF recommended that they check that they "were not using the same password as their Weda password on other professional accounts," as it may have been compromised.
Weda, based in Montpellier, belongs to the Vidal group, publisher of the famous drug dictionary of the same name.
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