Maryland Hospital Suffers Ransomware Attack
Atlantic General Hospital is currently investigating a ransomware attack that occurred earlier this week.
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By Jill McKeon
- Atlantic General Hospital in Maryland is recovering from a ransomware attack that was discovered early this week, local news outlet WMDT47 first reported. The hospital experienced network outages and told local outlets that patient interruption was “limited.”
A notice on the hospital’s website states that “Outpatient imaging services, walk-in lab services and AGHRx RediScripts are temporarily closed until further notice,” but does not reference the ransomware event.
This story will be updated as the situation develops.
St. Rose Hospital Reports Breach
Hayward, California-based St. Rose Hospital, also known as Hayward Sisters Hospital, recently notified an undisclosed number of individuals about a data breach that occurred in November 2022. The January 2023 notice stated that St. Rose detected suspicious activity within its systems in November and subsequently launched an investigation.
The investigation determined that an unauthorized actor gained access to certain computer systems and acquired files containing information relating to patients, along with current and former employees.
The information involved varies by individual, but may include names, phone numbers, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, health insurance identification numbers, lab results, clinical diagnoses, and medication information.
“The confidentiality, privacy, and security of personal information within our care is among our highest priorities, and we have strict security measures in place to protect information in our care. Upon becoming aware of this incident, we immediately took steps to secure our systems and performed a full investigation,” the notice stated.
“We have implemented additional security measures to further protect against similar incidents moving forward. Federal law enforcement is aware of this incident, and we are cooperating with their investigation. We are also notifying applicable regulators, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”
Livingston Memorial VNA Health Corporation Reports Breach
Livingston Memorial VNA Health Corporation along with its affiliates, Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association and Livingston Caregivers, suffered a data security incident in February 2022, a notice provided to the California Attorney General’s Office stated.
The Ventura, California-based organization, which provides home health and hospice care, quickly terminated unauthorized access after discovering suspicious activity within its computer systems on February 19, 2022.
Although the breach notice is dated January 20, 2023, Livingston Memorial explained that it issued a Substitute Notice on its website in compliance with HIPAA between May 6 and August 9. By November 2022, Livingston Memorial had finalized the list of impacted individuals.
“To date, Livingston Memorial has no reason to believe that there was a misuse of the potentially accessed information,” the notice explained. “Livingston Memorial is providing notice of this incident to you out of an abundance of caution.”
Since the breach, Livingston Memorial has “greatly enhanced its cybersecurity controls,” the notice explained. The organization increased logging and alerts and implemented additional internal safeguards.
