A Cyberattack Disrupted Emergency Services at a Massachusetts Hospital

A cyberattack halted the health record system at Anna Jaques Hospital over Christmas, and administrators have been mum on what happened or if it’s been fixed.

According to the hospital spokesperson, ‘Upon learning of the incident, we immediately secured the environment and called cybersecurity experts to support us in our investigation.Earlier this week, the hospital spokesperson added: ‘Our patients’ safety is still our main concern and we will do everything we can to ensure their safety albeit at some delay for some services.’No information on the incident was posted on any of the hospital’s social media accounts (either Anna Jaques Hospital or Beth Israel-Lahey), and no details about the nature of the attack (whether it was a ransomware or a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, and so on).

The staff at Anna Jaques ordered ambulances diverted to other hospitals in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley at the height of the crisis, and refused to receive ambulances that wanted to deliver patients to its emergency department.

In addition, the spokesperson also confirmed that after diverting ambulance arrivals on December 25, the emergency department has resumed admitting new patients from ambulance services.

Mayor Sean Reardon said he received a message on Christmas that the hospital’s electronic health record system was down and ambulances were being diverted elsewhere. He also expressed concern that every time a cyberattack is reported in the community, it is extremely concerning. This is especially true when the health of our residents is at stake. According to an email Reardon sent on Thursday, “the hospital is working extremely hard to get things back up and running.”

Unionised nurses at the hospital drew up a list of questions they wanted administrators to answer in the wake of the cyberattack: where will the information live? How will we be able to make decisions about adequate staffing versus when it’s not enough? Many hospital nurses are now coming forward to expose the bad working conditions at the hospital as their contracts are up for renewal at the end of this year.

The union has been ‘unable to obtain meaningful responses on a number of seemingly straightforward questions’ from administrators at Sudbury hospital by the time the letter arrived on Thursday afternoon, says David Schildmeier, the union spokesman.

Cyber attacks also affected hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving. Several examples of this trend can be found abroad, too: A healthcare provider in Australia announced a data breach on December 22. As cyberattacks are rising, it is recommended that organizations take maximum measures to stay protected.

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