Extortionists disrupted the work of the largest medical center in the region.
Ransomware operators have forced an important hospital to refuse to admit an ambulance after its computer systems were infected with malware.
University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, was forced to severely restrict operations after a cyberattack. The nonprofit hospital was hit by a ransomware attack on Friday. Services are still under threat, although most emergency departments are currently operating.
"As a precaution, we will continue to temporarily redirect ambulance and emergency services to the nearest medical facilities until this issue is resolved," hospital officials said in a statement.
"We are taking all possible measures to minimize any disruption to our patients and critical services. Our investigation into the incident is ongoing and will take time."
UMC is a level one hospital, which means that it can handle the most severe cases and maintains a round-the-clock team of specialists. The center is the only such facility within a radius of nearly 400 miles, and any deterioration in its operations could be life-threatening.
The hospital said it had detected suspicious activity on one of its IT networks and disconnected it from the main computer system. A third party was involved to eliminate the situation, the details of which were not disclosed. A spokesperson for the hospital declined to comment further.
According to Sophos, the total number of ransomware attacks is slowly decreasing, but in the healthcare industry, the number is growing. In the past two years, two-thirds of the healthcare facilities surveyed have been subjected to at least one ransomware attack, and more than half of them have paid a ransom to cybercriminals to regain control of their networks.
"While we see ransomware attack rates reaching a sort of 'homeostasis' or even decreasing across industries, attacks on healthcare organizations continue to increase in both number and scale", Sophos said.
"The high sensitivity of health information and the need for its availability will always make the healthcare industry a target for cybercriminals. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have learned that many medical institutions are not prepared to respond to such attacks, as evidenced by the increasingly long recovery times. These attacks can have significant consequences".
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Ransomware operators have forced an important hospital to refuse to admit an ambulance after its computer systems were infected with malware.
University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, was forced to severely restrict operations after a cyberattack. The nonprofit hospital was hit by a ransomware attack on Friday. Services are still under threat, although most emergency departments are currently operating.
"As a precaution, we will continue to temporarily redirect ambulance and emergency services to the nearest medical facilities until this issue is resolved," hospital officials said in a statement.
"We are taking all possible measures to minimize any disruption to our patients and critical services. Our investigation into the incident is ongoing and will take time."
UMC is a level one hospital, which means that it can handle the most severe cases and maintains a round-the-clock team of specialists. The center is the only such facility within a radius of nearly 400 miles, and any deterioration in its operations could be life-threatening.
The hospital said it had detected suspicious activity on one of its IT networks and disconnected it from the main computer system. A third party was involved to eliminate the situation, the details of which were not disclosed. A spokesperson for the hospital declined to comment further.
According to Sophos, the total number of ransomware attacks is slowly decreasing, but in the healthcare industry, the number is growing. In the past two years, two-thirds of the healthcare facilities surveyed have been subjected to at least one ransomware attack, and more than half of them have paid a ransom to cybercriminals to regain control of their networks.
"While we see ransomware attack rates reaching a sort of 'homeostasis' or even decreasing across industries, attacks on healthcare organizations continue to increase in both number and scale", Sophos said.
"The high sensitivity of health information and the need for its availability will always make the healthcare industry a target for cybercriminals. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have learned that many medical institutions are not prepared to respond to such attacks, as evidenced by the increasingly long recovery times. These attacks can have significant consequences".
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