Dutch Healthcare Websites Forced Offline by PHP2Shell Vulnerability
Websites across Dutch healthcare organizations went offline on Wednesday afternoon due to software vulnerabilities involving PHP, disrupting digital portals and information platforms. Patient care and primary systems largely remained unaffected, with scheduled appointments proceeding as planned, nrc.nl reported.
The disruption hit practices connected to Uw Zorg Online, a digital healthcare platform serving approximately 5,500 practices, including general practitioners, pharmacies, and other providers. The platform reported that sites were temporarily shut down because of the PHP2Shell vulnerability. While patient portals and the accompanying app remained accessible, logging in via DigiD encountered issues, forcing patients to use standard usernames and passwords instead, according to nrc.nl. Thuisarts.nl, an informational platform utilized by doctors to brief patients, also went offline.
Hospital Websites Go Dark as Precaution
Hospital websites experienced varying degrees of disruption, with at least eleven general hospital sites going dark alongside Maastricht UMC+. The websites of the most University Medical Centers are still in the air. Institutions such as the Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis in Den Bosch, Haaglanden MC in The Hague, St. Antonius Ziekenhuis in Nieuwegein, and Bergman Clinics took platforms offline as a precaution to secure their environments, nrc.nl reported. Online preparation folders and web-based appointment scheduling for blood tests were temporarily unavailable at affected facilities. Operational continuity held steady, as patient portals functioned independently of the main public websites. The St. Antonius Ziekenhuis confirmed that the vulnerability did not result in any data loss or theft of personal information.
Websites for the Amphia hospital in Breda, Frisius MC in Leeuwarden and Heerenveen, Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis, Maastricht UMC+, and St. Jans Gasthuis in Weert came back online. Nij Smellinghe in Drachten noted its site returned with partial functionality remaining restricted. Nij Smellinghe in Drachten reported that its site was working again, but not all functionalities are fully available yet. You may experience inconvenience from this. This will be resolved as soon as possible.
The Nederlandse Vereniging van Ziekenhuizen stated that no evidence indicated any member organization suffered a successful cyberattack through the leak.
Critical Care Infrastructure Remains Insulated from Outages
Critical care infrastructure stayed insulated from the web outages. The Landelijke Huisartsen Vereniging confirmed that essential systems utilized by general practices continued operating, though select system integrations were disabled out of caution. The LHV maintained communication with Z-CERT, the cybersecurity expertise center for the healthcare sector, which concentrated its efforts on issuing warnings to vulnerable organizations. The LHV advised general practices to keep an eye on the reporting surrounding the PHP update at 16:00 and to execute the update immediately. The LHV instructed practices to execute security updates promptly. Meanwhile, public health entities including the RIVM, regional GGD branches, and multiple pharmacies also took their public web portals offline as a protective measure, nrc.nl reported.
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