Current:Home > FinanceLatest hospital cyberattack shows how health care systems' vulnerability can put patients at risk -EliteFunds
Latest hospital cyberattack shows how health care systems' vulnerability can put patients at risk
View
Date:2025-04-14 08:47:05
Tulsa, Oklahoma — Annie Wolf's open-heart surgery was just two days away when the Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called, informing her that her procedure had been postponed after a major ransomware attack.
"I've got a hole in my mitral valve, and basically walking around, I can't breathe," Wolf told CBS News. "And I get very fatigued, very tired, very quickly. If I go to the store, I've got to ride the scooter."
Wolf is just one of the patients impacted after Ardent Health Services says it became aware of the cyber breach on Thanksgiving day affecting 30 hospitals and more than 200 health care sites across six states.
J.D. Bloomer has had an annual cancer check since he was diagnosed in 2008. However, the cyberattack turned his routine visit at the University of Kansas Healthcare System St. Francis campus in Topeka into a scheduling headache.
"They informed me that my procedure for tomorrow had been canceled," Bloomer told CBS News. "...I said, 'OK, when will be rescheduling?' And she said, 'When the network returns.'"
In a statement, Ardent said it immediately began safeguarding confidential patient data, and protectively took its computer network offline, which required some facilities, including two in New Jersey, to divert ambulances to nearby medical centers.
Ardent said that "in an abundance of caution, our facilities are rescheduling some non-emergent, elective procedures and diverting some emergency room patients to other area hospitals."
Ardent has not announced a timeline for when the issue could be resolved.
According to the Institute for Security and Technology, at least 299 hospitals have suffered ransomware attacks in 2023.
"Well, I think, there's always the concern of loss of life," Kiersten Todt, former chief of staff at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said about the impact on the 911 infrastructure when a hospital system is crippled by a cyberattack.
Dr. Christian Demef, co-director of the UC San Diego Center for Healthcare Security, is a hacker turned emergency room physician who saw firsthand how a ransomware attack impacted his San Diego hospital after a 2021 hack crippled a nearby facility.
"We saw three times the number of ambulances one day than we ever had before because of a ransomware attack in our community," Demef said.
"Life-threatening time-sensitive medical conditions like stroke, trauma, heart attacks, all of these minutes truly matter," he added. "And when these systems are down, we can't do our job effectively."
"Malicious actors want to make money off of it," Todt said.
"It absolutely is" motivated by profit, according to Todt. "It's an economic model. The tragedy is that it's an economic model that...happens to capitalize on an infrastructure that is responsible for human lives."
- In:
- Cyberattack
- Health Care
CBS News reporter covering homeland security and justice.
TwitterveryGood! (33945)
Related
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Mississippi Rep. Nick Bain concedes loss to gun shop owner Brad Mattox in Republican primary runoff
- I Tried the Haus Labs Concealer Lady Gaga Says She Needs in Her Makeup Routine
- Joe Jonas Performs Without His Wedding Ring After Confirming Sophie Turner Divorce
- Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
- 'Wednesday's Child' deals in life after loss
- Ohio will keep GOP-drawn congressional maps in 2024 elections, ending court challenge
- New findings revealed in Surfside condo collapse investigation
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Special counsel intends to bring indictment against Hunter Biden by month's end
Ranking
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Erythritol is sugar substitute. But what's in it and why is it so popular?
- Are we witnessing the death of movie stars?
- Taylor Momsen was 'made fun of relentlessly' for starring in 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'
- Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
- Investigators say a blocked radio transmission led to a June close call between planes in San Diego
- Probe of Florida building collapse that killed 98 to be completed by June 2025, US investigators say
- Boy band talent agency's new president faces abuse allegations after founder's sexual assault scandal
Recommendation
Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
A whale of a discovery: Alabama teen, teacher discover 34-million-year-old whale skull
11-year-old dead, woman injured in shooting near baseball stadium
What happened when England’s soccer great Gascoigne met Prince William in a shop? A cheeky kiss
Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
Japan prosecutors arrest ex-vice foreign minister in bribery case linked to wind power company
How to watch the U.S. Open amid Disney's dispute with Spectrum
Judge says protections for eastern hellbender should be reconsidered