According to an Oct. 12 article by Andy East from The Republic, Columbus Regional Hospital (CRH) in Columbus, Ind. is on high-alert due to a surge of cyberattacks that affected at least three nearby hospitals in recent weeks.
East writes that “The attacks, which CRH officials said appear to be targeting healthcare providers and first responders, have swept through southern and central Indiana over the past several weeks, ranging from data theft to ransomware attacks or other breaches.”
East reports that cybersecurity incidents have been reported at Johnson Memorial Health in Franklin and Schneck Medical Center in Seymour. Additionally, in August, Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis was hit by a cyberattack—it is not clear if the attacks were related.
In an Oct. 12 article by Aubrey Woods from The Tribune, Woods writes that “In August, ‘sophisticated cyber criminals’ penetrated Eskenazi Health’s computer systems and stole the personal and healthcare data of patients and employees, the hospital said in a statement Oct. 1. The attack resulted in the hospital diverting ambulances to other facilities.”
Further, “A few weeks later, Schneck Medical Center suspended all IT operations ‘out of an abundance of caution’ after being hit with a cyberattack.”
Woods adds that “Just a handful of days later, Johnson Memorial Health was hit with a cyberattack that resulted in the disabling of its computer system, forcing staff to fill out patient records on paper, cutting off electronic communication with other healthcare agencies and preventing the hospital from being able to report staffing and bed counts in real time to local emergency medical providers, The Daily Journal reported.”
It is clear that cyberattacks have serious implications when it comes to patient safety and are, unfortunately, continuing to intensify. On Sept. 30, the first credible public claim that a death was caused, at least in part, by ransomware was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. On Oct. 7, new reports on the FIN12 ransomware gang say that the group prefers quick malware deployment against sensitive, high-value targets—making healthcare organizations prime targets.
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