"Hospital staff are rushed off their feet as they have to take blood tests by hand to other departments from A&E, and they can't access medical records or check information". The number of such attacks increased 50 percent in 2016, according to an April report from Verizon Communications.
"We ask patients to only come to our A&Es if absolutely necessary".
The government was working to "isolate systems which have been affected by a Ransomware cyber-attack of the kind which has also affected health trusts in NHS England", it said in a statement, adding that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon would chair an emergency meeting shortly.
A spokesman for NHS Dumfries and Galloway said: "Three GP practices have been initially affected and we are taking precautionary measures to prevent any others being affected".
In a statement, the NHS said that its early investigations attributed the attack to a strain of malware known as the "Wanna Decryptor", a ransomware program that infects computers via a trojan virus and encrypts data stored on the local disk drive.
A screenshot of an apparent ransom message, sent to a hospital, showed a demand for $300 in bitcoin for files that had been encrypted to be decrypted. "Now ransomware is affecting larger companies with more sophisticated security operations", Chris Wysopal, chief technology officer with cyber security firm Veracode, said.
Wana Decryptor exploits a Windows flaw that was patched in Microsoft's Security Bulletin MS17-010 in March.
Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan seem to be the worst-affected countries at the moment.
"It had a countdown clock ticking down, stating that all data would be deleted unless a payment was received within that timeframe", he said.
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"This attack was not specifically targeted at the NHS and is affecting organizations from across a range of sectors". NHS Digital says 16 NHS organizations report being hit.
Spain, meanwhile, activated a special protocol to protect critical infrastructure in response to the "massive infection" of personal and corporate computers in ransomware attacks, AP reported.
Britain's National Health Service declared a "major incident" after cyber attacks hit dozens of hospitals on Friday, as security experts pointed to a global campaign that also disrupted Spanish businesses.
Spain's Telefonica was among the companies hit.
"We are experiencing a major IT disruption and there are delays at all of our hospitals", said the Barts Health group, which manages major London hospitals.
John Caldwell, a doctor in Liverpool, told the Guardian he had "no access to record systems or results". "It's stressful enough for someone going through recovery or treatment for cancer".
Britain's National Cyber Security Centre and its National Crime Agency were looking into the United Kingdom incidents, which disrupted care at National Health Service facilities.
The same malware, called WCry is also being blamed for large-scale attacks in Europe and Asia, repeatedly hitting networks in Russian Federation and China.
Sometimes, it works: Last year, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center forked over $17,000 to hackers who used ransomware.
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