Media outlets confirmed the information would not be made public and had been referred to police, the DHB said in a statement released this afternoon.
"Waikato DHB apologises to our patients for the inconvenience caused by this disruption and appreciate their cooperation and understanding. We acknowledge the additional distress and concern for patients and their whānau at this time."
The outage of the health systems in Waikato continues, disrupting the treatment of patients and the payroll process of staff members.
Waikato DHB cares for a population of more than 425,000 people. Its IT system crashed on Tuesday last week after a sophisticated cyber attack left staff at Waikato, Thames, Taumarunui, Tokoroa and Te Kuiti hospitals reverting back to manual processes to run its services.
They have now moved to manual processes to support a backlog of patients while the public was asked to look for alternative avenues for treatment for non-critical conditions.
Authorities would not comment on whether the cyber attackers had put forward any demands. The Government has refused to pay any ransom to a group purporting to be hackers.
CRISIS MEETING
Health Minister Andrew Little and top government officials were attending a crisis meeting in Wellington this afternoon.
The Officials Committee for Domestic and External Security Coordination responds to threats to New Zealand's security - it convened after a cyber attack on the NZX last year and after the Christchurch terror attacks, RNZ reported.
Little said the Ministry of Health was also increasing its resourcing of the dedicated response team.
Waikato Dhb said police were also conducting a criminal investigation into the matter.
Today in a statement, the DHB acknowledged that they were aware of the media reports on data, and said the National Cyber Security Centre, Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), Privacy Commission and police were all responding to the incident.
Waikato DHB chief executive Kevin Snee said the situation was not going to be resolved quickly, and acknowledged concerns about the DHB's data.
"This is a criminal investigation and we have every confidence that it is being dealt with by NZ Police and cyber security experts. Care and safety of patients remains our highest priority, and we must concentrate on health services and supporting our staff to do their job."
- People with privacy concerns can call the number set up by the DHB, 0800 561 234.
PATIENTS TRANSFERRED
About 70 seriously ill cancer patients are being transferred to other North lsland hospitals, and some may also be flown to Australia as a last resort.
Doctors warn there will be a massive backlog due to the large number of appointments and surgeries being deferred, and handwritten notes.
"There were already really long waiting lists and overbooked clinics before this happened so the catch-up now is going to be massive... So that's a pretty big mountain for them to climb," Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) executive director Sarah Dalton said.
One of the doctors told us "it's a war zone, but we are soldiers", she said.
The boss of the union representing thousands of senior doctors across the country said there were large amounts of paperwork caused by notes having to be taken by hand that would have to be re-entered once the IT system was back online.
"All the doctors we've spoken to have said it is difficult for everyone, but acute services are most affected and that's simply because of the pressure of time and the urgency of the care required for those people."
DEADLINE EXPIRES
The Waikato DHB on Wednesday entered its ninth day of running its five hospitals without a vital IT system while technology experts work around the clock urgently trying to restore the entire network.
On Monday night, people claiming to be the hackers contacted media outlets saying they had given the Waikato DHB one more day to respond.
The group claiming responsibility for the attack claimed it had accessed confidential patient notes, staff details and financial information.
They said the DHB had until Tuesday to comply with its demands or warned the information would be made public. That deadline has expired.
A senior doctor at Waikato Hospital told The New Zealand Herald yesterday that the technology outage meant they were unable to provide key services such as radiotherapy and as a result very sick patients were being left untreated.
The doctor said their frustration was shared by clinicians working in a range of services.
Waikato DHB chief executive Kevin Snee claims the majority of outpatients clinics and surgeries are still taking place - albeit slightly differently to normal.
"Obviously all of our services are not working as normal ... These services are trying really hard to deliver the best possible care for patients in really trying circumstances."
Last night, Health Minister Andrew Little reiterated earlier comments from Snee that the Government would not pay a ransom to the attackers.
"Ransomware attacks are a crime. The New Zealand Government will not pay ransoms to criminals because this will encourage further offending," Little said.
He said patient wellbeing and supporting staff remained the Government's first priority.
"I have been in touch with the Waikato DHB Commissioner Dame Karen Poutasi this evening and will continue to be in contact with her about any assistance the DHB requires to support people whose information may have been held in the DHB's systems."
When approached by the Herald for an interview, Poutasi - who was appointed commissioner of the Waikato DHB in 2019 - referred any media requests to Snee via the DHB's communications team.
The Waikato breach comes after Ireland's health service operator was hit by a ransomware attack that was executed by international cyber criminals. But it was not clear if the attack in New Zealand was by the same group.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said this week that the cyber criminals who hit the Irish health system used a malicious software dubbed "Conti", had targeted at least 16 US medical and first response networks in the past year.
New Zealand's stock market was hit by a cyber attack last year and the central bank's data systems were also breached in an attack on a file sharing service provided by California-based Accellion.
- NZ Herald, RNZ and Reuters
