Cyberattack disrupts hospital operations in Antwerp

AZ Monica hospital in Antwerp was hit by a cyberattack on the morning of 13 January 2026 and chose to shut down its IT systems to contain the damage. Both the Antwerp and Deurne campuses experienced disruption, and the public prosecutor has confirmed the case is being investigated as cybercrime. Taking servers and systems offline impaired normal digital operations and affected internal processes and IT-dependent services at the hospital.

What this means for your organisation

The hospital shut itself down, and that is often the right call. It depends on someone holding the authority to make it quickly, and on the organisation having planned how operations continue without the systems. For healthcare providers and other operators of essential services, this is a concrete reminder that continuity must be exercised, not merely documented.

Berigo recommends

• Clarify who is authorised to shut systems down, and ensure the authority applies outside office hours.
• Practise manual operation of the most critical processes, on paper if that is the fallback.
• Prepare a communication plan for users, next of kin and authorities.
• Review NIS2 reporting obligations and confirm the deadlines can be met during downtime.

Source

• brusselstimes.com
• azmonica.be