Healthcare Cyberattack Leaves a System’s Network Down in IN

Indiana-based Johnson Memorial Health announced that it fell victim to a healthcare cyberattack on Saturday, October 2. The health system’s computer network is still down and the FBI is investigating the attack.

“We are working as quickly as possible to restore normal computer operations” Johnson Memorial Health said in a statement on its website.

“However, these types of attacks take time to fully resolve and it may be several days before the JMH computer system is fully operational.”

At the time of the notice, no appointments or surgeries had been canceled. Johnson Memorial Health is asking all patients with scheduled appointments to arrive earlier than usual since the registration process may be slower than normal.

“We thank all our patients and visitors for their patience as we continue to recover from this event,” the health system stated.

Johnson Memorial Health has a network of over 100 physicians based in Johnson County, Indiana.

Also in Indiana, Eskenazi Health recently suffered a data breach in that resulted in ambulance diversions and EHR downtime. Eskenazi Health, a public hospital division of the Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County (HHC) originally stated that it did not believe any personally identifiable information (PII) was released on the web, but investigations were still ongoing.

On October 1, the hospital posted an update on its website informing patients that personal information was in fact stolen and released on the internet.

“Despite Eskenazi Health’s efforts, data was stolen from its network by the cyber criminals and they released some of the data on a portion of the Internet known as the dark web. This data included certain personal and health information of some patients and employees of HHC,” the statement explained.

The hospital determined that cybercriminals stole and posted patient and employee medical, financial, and demographic information, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, credit card information, prescription information, and insurance information.

“Eskenazi Health is constantly evaluating its security systems and will continue to make improvements as necessary to protect the privacy and security of information on an ongoing basis,” the statement continued.

“Eskenazi Health has been proactive in its efforts to implement policies, procedures, and safeguards to prevent data compromises from occurring in the future and has worked with its forensic team to identify any areas for improvement.”

The hospital is offering free identity theft an credit monitoring services to impacted individuals.