US Hospitals Knocked Offline For Weeks

Uploaded on 2023-09-11 in FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-Health & Welfare

Important computer systems at US hospitals and clinics have currently been offline for more than two weeks since a cyber hack forced emergency rooms to close and created ambulance diversions, due to an apparent, unconfirmed, ransom attack.

Sixteen hospitals and more than a hundred other medical facilities across the United States are offline after the largest cyberattack on a US hospital system since last year. Key computer systems at hospitals and clinics in several states have yet to come back online more than two weeks after the initial attack.

According to multisite hospital operator, Prospect Medical Holdings, progress is being made “to recover critical systems and restore their integrity,” but the company, which runs 16 hospitals and dozens of other medical facilities in various states could not say when operations will return to normal.

The recovery process for this situation can often take weeks, and in the meantime, hospitals are reverting to paper systems and people to monitor equipment, run records between departments, and do other tasks that are usually electronic. Some elective surgeries, outpatient appointments, blood drives, and other services are still postponed.

In one case, the hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut, has been using paper records instead of computer files and for a time was diverting trauma and stroke patients to other facilities.

The healthcare industry was the hardest hit sector worldwide with the average cost of a beach assessed at $11 million last year. The reason healthcare providers are a common target for criminal extortionists is that they have sensitive patient data, including histories, payment information, and even critical research data.

The American Hospital Association’s national advisor for cyber security and risk, John Riggi, - a former cyber security specialist with the FBI - says that hospitals have been trying to improve their security and backup systems to avoid and deal with such attacks.

It is, however, hard to make them totally secure because they need to use the Internet and network-connected technologies to exchange patient information among clinicians involved in a patient’s care.

I-His: I-His: NBC News: The Guardian: AP News: Independent: Image: Mufid Majnun

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