Computer systems across a major hospital chain with facilities across the nation were down on Monday due to what the company termed an unspecified technology security issue"
Computer systems across a major hospital chain with facilities across the nation were down on Monday due to what the company termed an unspecified technology security issue".
Doctors and nurses had to
rely on paper.
Universal
Health Services Inc, which operates more than 250 hospitals and other
clinical facilities in the US, said in a short statement posted to its website
on Monday that its network was offline and doctors and nurses were resorting to
back-up processes including paper records.
The Fortune 500 company,
with 90,000 employees, said patient care continues to be delivered safely and
effectively and no patient or employee data appeared to have been accessed,
copied or misused".
The company also has
hospitals in the United Kingdom, but its operations in that country were not
affected, a spokeswoman said on Monday night.
UHS provided no details
about the incident, but people posting to an online Reddit forum who identified
themselves as employees said the chain's network was hit by ransomware
overnight Sunday.
The posts echoed the alarm
of a clinician at a UHS facility in Washington, DC, who described to The
Associated Press a mad scramble, including anxiety over determining which
patients might be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
John Riggi, senior cybersecurity
adviser to the American Hospital Association, called it a suspected ransomware
attack", adding that criminals have been increasingly targeting the
networks of health care institutions during the coronavirus pandemic.
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