Almost a month after a ransomware attack on Vanuatu's government, the country's public service remains crippled and hospital staff have resorted to using pen and paper.
Government servers, emails and other online systems have been disrupted by the cyber attack, slowing down systems such as pay services and delaying the delivery of goods.
Cybersecurity staff were made aware of the attack after government websites became inaccessible, with some redirected to the sites of groups believed to be behind the attack.
"We came into government and less than 24 hours later this cyber attack took the whole system down — and it's down now so it is affecting our work," Vanuatu's new Climate Change Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, said.
"We put in place the necessary decisions and so on to get it fixed, and the people are working on it, but it is a serious breach of our national security."
The ABC has been told that many government employees have resorted to using their personal email services and hotspots to do their work.
Back to pen and paper
Vanuatu's main hospital, Port Vila Central, was also affected by the cyber attack, according to medical superintendent Vincent Atua.
Dr Atua said patient care had not been impacted but the online system to pay suppliers was not working and that was a "major, major issue".
Staff had gone back to using pen and paper and begun walking to other departments to get things done, Dr Atua said.
"We're just going back to how we used to do things in the olden days," he said.
"Getting urgently required drugs, raising payments for that by going through the finance system is awfully slow and many times we have had delays," he added.
There have been reports that the salaries of some government employees have been affected.
Dr Atua said hospital staff were still getting paid, but overtime payments and other entitlements had been placed on hold.
He said the hospital's management team was planning to look at ways to install a backup internet system.
Rebuilding for 'long-term' security
The hacking of the Vanuatu government servers is the latest in a string of cyber attacks in the region, which include the attacks on Australia's Medibank and Optus.
Mr Regenvanu said the Vanuatu government was worried about the attack and its impact.
"We are very concerned about how we fix it given what's happening in the world today, not only in terms of technology, and cyber matters but also in terms of geopolitics," he said.
"It is very concerning to us that we reboot in a way that is going to be good for us, for our long-term future security."
Australian experts have been helping Vanuatu rebuild the IT network, aiming to futureproof it.
Australia's Pacific Minister, Pat Conroy, who was in Vanuatu last week, said cyber attacks were a problem for many countries in the region.
"The important thing is in this age, governments and organisations and businesses are under constant scrutiny from malicious actors," he said.
"It is very important that the Pacific family works together to make sure that all our systems work properly, and when a system does go down that members of the Pacific family are there to help."
Why target Vanuatu?
It is still unclear who is behind the attack. There are reports of a ransom demand that has turned down by the Vanuatu government, but they have not been officially confirmed.
Last month, Vanuatu's deputy chief information officer, John Jack, said he suspected Vanuatu was targeted because of the country's "activities on the international stage".
The director of the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program, Meg Keen, said while it was unclear why Vanuatu was targeted, the reasons could be financial or political.
Dr Keen said Vanuatu was an important player in the region.
"It has important roles to play with geopolitics, its role within the Pacific Islands Forum. It has relations, obviously, with Australia but also with China," Dr Keen said.
"It is one of the non-aligned countries of the Pacific. It has a strong policy of being friends to all.
"And it takes strong stances geopolitically on certain issues. We have seen that on climate change. We have seen that on West Papua."
Pacific-wide approach needed
Dr Keen said other countries should also be aware of the risk of hacks.
"There is obviously a clear need to strengthen these cyber systems, these internet systems," she said.
"And I think there is a role for regional agencies to help in that process — and I think that is being looked at now.
"It is going to take a whole of the Pacific approach to [address] this, and support networks."
It is unclear when Vanuatu's servers will be up and running again, but there is hope they will be fixed in the coming week.
