Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Cybercrime

Cyberattack Forces Memorial Health System to Cancel Surgeries, Divert Patients

Not-for-profit integrated health organization Memorial Health System is in the process of restoring operations after falling victim to a cyberattack on Sunday.

The health system operates three hospitals (Marietta Memorial Hospital, Selby General Hospital, and Sistersville General Hospital) and multiple provider clinics and outpatient service sites.

Not-for-profit integrated health organization Memorial Health System is in the process of restoring operations after falling victim to a cyberattack on Sunday.

The health system operates three hospitals (Marietta Memorial Hospital, Selby General Hospital, and Sistersville General Hospital) and multiple provider clinics and outpatient service sites.

On August 15, the organization announced that it fell victim to a cyberattack that forced it to suspend “user access to information technology applications.” The incident resulted in disrupted clinical and financial operations, including suspended medical exams, cancelled surgeries, and patients being diverted to other facilities.

In a statement on Wednesday, Memorial Health System president and CEO Scott Cantley revealed that the organization has been working with cybersecurity experts to address the attack, and said that recovery operations have started.

“We have reached a negotiated solution and are beginning the process that will restore operations as quickly and as safely as possible. We are following a deliberate, systematic approach to bring systems back online securely and in a manner that prioritizes our ability to provide patient care. This could happen as early as Sunday,” Cantley said.

He also noted that no patient or employee data appears to have been publicly released or disclosed. On Sunday, Cantley claimed that the attackers did not compromise “known patient or employee personal or financial information.”

Cantley also noted that the health system was able to “maintain safe and effective patient care” throughout the incident, but said that additional security improvements will be implemented, to prevent similar incidents.

While Cantley did not provide information on the nature of the incident, it appears that ransomware might have been used, and the CEO’s statement suggests that the organization was able to negotiate with the attackers.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Bleeping Computer reported that the attack appears to have been carried out by a cybercrime group that uses the Hive ransomware. The hackers, known for leaking information stolen from victims, claimed that they did actually obtain patient information.

Related: Vermont Hospital Still Calculating Cost of Ransomware Attack

Related: Ireland’s Health Service Executive Held to Ransom by Conti Gang

Related: FBI: 16 Conti Ransomware Attacks Targeted Healthcare, First Responders in U.S.

Written By

Ionut Arghire is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Cybercrime

The changing nature of what we still generally call ransomware will continue through 2023, driven by three primary conditions.

Cybercrime

A recently disclosed vBulletin vulnerability, which had a zero-day status for roughly two days last week, was exploited in a hacker attack targeting the...

Cybercrime

As it evolves, web3 will contain and increase all the security issues of web2 – and perhaps add a few more.

Cybercrime

Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group informed some customers last week that their online accounts had been breached by hackers.

Cybercrime

Zendesk is informing customers about a data breach that started with an SMS phishing campaign targeting the company’s employees.

Cybercrime

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft calls attention to a series of zero-day remote code execution attacks hitting its Office productivity suite.

Artificial Intelligence

The release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 has demonstrated the potential of AI for both good and bad.

Cybercrime

Satellite TV giant Dish Network confirmed that a recent outage was the result of a cyberattack and admitted that data was stolen.