The ransomware attack that shut down a northern trust for four days has been blamed on a misconfigured firewall , according to a cyber - security review . IT systems at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust were hit with a ransomware virus , known as Globe2 , on 30 October , 2016 . To prevent the virus spreading , the trust shut most of its clinical systems for four days , resulting in 2,800 patient appointment cancellations , The attack has also sparked an ongoing police investigation . ;