Tonga’s National Health Information System (NHIS) suffered a ransomware breach this week, says Dr ʻAna ʻAkauʻola this evening. The system has been shut down, and staff moved to manual operations.
The breach came to light during a parliament debate on the MEIDECC budget, when Deputy PM Dr Taniela Fusimalohi alerted MPs to the intrusion. Dr ʻAkauʻola confirmed she learned of the hack earlier this week and immediately summoned system administrators. She noted that staff member managing the NHIS “was unaware that it was a serious breach.”
The minister disclosed that hackers encrypted the NHIS and demanded payment, assuring MPs “the hackers won’t damage the information on the NHIS.” She also said she promptly emailed Dr Fusimalohi when she knew of the breach, who engaged the Australian High Commission.
Dr Fusimalohi confirmed an Australian cyber team arrived in Tonga today to help resolve the issue.
This marks the first ransomware attack on the NHIS system, introduced in 2019 with Asian Development Bank support to digitise Tonga’s health records before going “live” in 2021. “This is one of the risks before we go into full digitalisation,” Dr ʻAkauʻola warned, noting patient data is currently inaccessible but cannot confirm whether confidential patient data has been compromised during the hack.
Minister for Police Paula Piukala welcomed the turn to manual processes but criticised past governments for ignoring earlier warnings that Tonga’s digital infrastructure is not fully prepared for these threats. He said “these hackers… are demanding millions of dollars” and urged investment in IT infrastructure. Former PM Siaosi Sovaleni cautioned the breach might have started from a simple click on a bad link, though it remains unclear if patient data was exfiltrated.
Prime Minister ‘Aisake Eke said government efforts are underway and assured the public that updates will follow. In the meantime, residents have been urged via social media to bring essential records to the hospital to help with essential manual record-keeping.
Further updates expected as the Australian team works to restore full NHIS access.
