One of the largest medical cyberattacks in the history of the United States has hit a large chain of visible hospitals.
Computer systems for Universal Health Services, primarily U.S. There are more than 100 locations in, the weekend began to fail, and some hospitals had to file patient information with pen and paper, according to multiple people familiar with the situation. .
Universal Health Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but posted a statement on its website stating that its company-wide network “is currently offline due to IT security issues.” A person familiar with the company’s response efforts, who have no right to speak to the press, said the attack “looks and smells like ransomware.”
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that spreads across a computer network, encrypts files, and demands payment of keys to decrypt them. It has become a common tactic for hackers, although attacking medical facilities on this scale is not uncommon. One patient died after a ransomware attack on a German hospital in early September, requiring him to be moved to a different hospital, sparking speculation that ransomware might be the first known death.
Hackers seeking to deploy ransomware often wait until the weekend, when many members of the company’s technical staff are likely to be absent.
Two Universal Health Services nurses, who declined to be named because they do not have the right to speak to the media with the company, said the attack took place over the weekend and left medical staff working with pens and paper.
One of the nurses working at a facility in North Dakota, said the computers slowed down and then eventually did not turn on as early as early Sunday morning. The nurse said, “After all, all the computers are completely down.
“The computer just shut down on its own,” said another registered nurse at an Arizona facility who worked this weekend.
“Our drug system is all online, so it’s been difficult,” said the Arizona nurse.
While many patients in that facility have charts on paper, medication information is kept maintained online, although it is backed up at the end of each day, the nurse said.
“We had until the 26th.” The person said.
The nurse said, “Now we had to hand-label every medicine. “It’s all improv.”
Ransomware can wreak havoc in spittos. In 2017, a ransomware strain called Vannakri, created by hackers working for the North Korean government, spread around the world and infected the UK’s national health system without being a direct target. The attack disrupted at least 20 medical facilities, although no deaths have been reported in public.
Kenneth White, a computer security engineer with more than a decade of experience working with hospital networks, said delays caused by a rinsomware attack could have dire consequences for patients.
“While nurses and physicians cannot access reports from labs, radiology or cardiology, which can dramatically slow treatment, and in extreme cases, re-pave the way for serious treatment at other treatment centers.” , There is a very real possibility that people could die. “
