CNN
—
An apparent cyberattack forced Florida’s network of medical institutions to send some emergency patients to other facilities and cancel some non-urgent surgeries, the medical network said Friday.
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, which operates a 772-bed hospital and multiple specialty care centers, said it was forced to shut down its computer systems late Thursday night due to “IT security issues.”
“We also use EMS. [emergency medical services] The hospital system only accepts Level 1 trauma from our immediate service area. statementLevel 1 trauma refers to the most acute injury or illness.
Tallahassee Memorial Health Care spokesperson Tori Lynn Schneider told CNN that “several” emergency patients were being transferred to facilities outside the organization’s network, but the number of patients was not clear. Due to the hacking incident, all non-emergency and elective procedures scheduled for Monday have been canceled, Schneider said.
It is the latest in a series of cyberattacks that have continued to attack resource-strapped US health care providers for nearly three years during the Covid-19 pandemic. In another case, hackers accessed the personal data of approximately 270,000 patients in an attempted ransomware attack on the Louisiana health system in October.
The FBI last month shut down computer infrastructure used by a notorious ransomware gang to attack multiple US hospitals, according to the bureau. However, the threat remains as multiple ransomware groups are known to target the healthcare sector.
It’s unclear who was responsible for the apparent hacking of the Tallahassee Memorial. The Tallahassee Memorial did not disclose whether it was hit by a ransomware attack, but the organization’s statement listed activities consistent with a ransomware attack, including the need to shut down computer networks.
A hospital source told CNN that staff could not access digital patient records and test results because of the closure.
Tallahassee Memorial CEO Mark O’Bryant notified staff directly Friday morning that the system had suffered a “cyberattack,” according to sources.
“To contain the problem, please immediately and completely turn off all PCs connected to TMH’s network and leave them off until further notice,” a Tallahassee Memorial official said Friday. said in a memo sent to employees this morning and obtained by CNN.
Max Henderson, a cybersecurity expert from Tallahassee who specializes in healthcare, said the effects of shutting down a hospital’s computer network could last for weeks or months.
“Emergency, unplanned shutdowns can lead to the loss of recently collected data on diagnoses, clinical notes, shift handovers, and various other setbacks of medical staff,” says incident response at security firm Pondurance. Henderson, a senior manager at the company, told CNN.
“Nearly all hospitals rely on the Internet for connectivity with vendors and remote offices to process information in critical departments such as radiology, pharmacy, medical equipment maintenance, patient document scanning, and payment processing. ‘, Henderson added.
