2023-08-05 05:02:21
Facilities in four states were shut down for a few hours on Friday.
Darwin Laganzon / Pixabay Cyberattack hit some hospital units in the US
One cyber attack against a hospital group of USA forced the closure of emergency units and other critical services at its four-state facilities, health system sources said Friday. , suffered “a data security incident,” a spokeswoman explained to AFP. “Upon learning, we took down our systems to protect them and opened an investigation with the help of external cybersecurity experts,” she added. The group’s Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut reported that the cyber blackout affected all inpatient and outpatient interventions, and forced staff to use “paper records.” The Eastern Connecticut Health Network provided notice that its emergency center was closed and that elective surgeries had been canceled until further notice.
The incident was suspected to be a “ransomware” attack, or data hijacking, but it was still being investigated, the spokeswoman said. This type of cyber attack tends to access vulnerable systems and encrypt and steal data, before sending a ransom demand demanding payment in exchange for decrypting or not making it public. Healthcare groups tend to be a recurring target of these cyberattacks. “As our investigation continues, we are focused on addressing the urgent needs of our patients, and we are working diligently to return to normalcy as soon as possible,” the spokeswoman said.
*With information from AFP
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