Two Maryland Hospitals Are Investigating a Cyberattack as Some Patient Systems Remain Offline
Luminis Health has brought in legal counsel and outside cybersecurity experts but has not disclosed the cause or a restoration timeline.
Some systems are still down after two Maryland hospitals were hit with a cyber attack. Earlier this week, Luminus Health, a nonprofit regional health system, announced that it experienced a cybersecurity incident. The attack impacted both of its hospitals: Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis and Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center in Lanham.
The health system announced that the incident impacted its online systems, including access to MyChart and other portals. Luminus has said it is “working urgently” to rectify the issue and is “actively investigating the incident with the support of legal counsel and third-party cybersecurity experts.”
The organization hasn’t said what caused the incident
The organization hasn’t said what caused the incident or given a timeline for when all of its systems would be back online. However, as of Friday, a message on Luminus Health still reads: “Important Patient Update: Certain Luminis Health systems are currently unavailable due to a cybersecurity incident. For questions about upcoming appointments or scheduled services, please call 443-222-0193 during business hours.”
Luminus also didn’t say whether it had confirmed if patient records were accessed during the incident, but explained that it would notify patients accordingly if it was discovered that their information had been compromised.
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Some patients have been rerouted to other hospitals for care or had their appointments cancelled as a result of the incident.
Luminus instructed patients to call before showing up to their previously scheduled appointments.
The cybersecurity incident comes as experts have been
The cybersecurity incident comes as experts have been sounding the alarm over how sophisticated cyber attacks have become in the wake of AI technology. Recently, OpenAI published an open letter titled “A call for collective action on cyber defense,” which called for a“global surge in cyber defense.” The letter explained that “companies and public services our communities depend on—from hospitals to water treatment plants to the infrastructure that powers the internet—are at risk.”
The most recent incident follows a wave of cyber attacks on health care systems, and more, such as a CareCloud incident that impacted up to 3.8 million people, a Conduent breach which reached more than 25 million victims, and a flurry of cyberattacks which used voice cloning technology to hit Wall Street money managers.
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Source: www.inc.com
