TriCity Medical Center in Oceanside hit by cybersecurity attack The San Diego UnionTribune

pTriCity Medical Center is diverting ambulance traffic to other hospitals Thursday as it copes with a cybersecurity attack that has forced it to declare an internal disaster as workers scramble to contain the damage and protect patient recordsppThe Oceanside facilitys management confirmed the situation in a brief statement indicating that the hospitals emergency department remains prepared to manage emergency cases that may arrive in private vehicles and is working with our other health system partners to ensure the provision of health care for our communityppTriCity officials did not specify the exact nature of the attack saying that the medical center is experiencing a cybersecurity challenge at this time but not specifying the exact nature of the threat except to say that it is similar to situations that have impacted other health care providers across the countryppAs a recent federal cybersecurity bulletin attests ransomware malicious software that extorts payment while holding an organizations digital infrastructure hostage remains the most serious threat with a version called NoEscape currently spreading in multiple business sectorsppTriCity management declined to confirm that the threat was ransomware though several people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified said that it was the suspected culpritppWere in the midst of a forensic analysis and as soon as we have more information well share said Aaron Byzak TriCitys chief strategy officer and spokespersonppThe public district hospital which has served the Oceanside Carlsbad and Vista area of North County since 1961 had 144 staffed beds in its most recent quarterly disclosure to the state The attack comes at a particularly inopportune moment as the independent medical provider conducts due diligence with UC San Diego Health which TriCity selected to run its operations under a joint powers agreementppHealth care organizations are increasingly targets of digital mayhem with the US Office of Information Security indicating that data breaches have doubled in three years A report summarizing activity worldwide found that the average ransom demand grew by 45 percent from 2020 to 2021 when it was 247000 The largest ransom in 2020 the government report said was 30 million with that figure jumping to 70 million in 2021ppA study of ransomware attacks published in late 2022 by researchers in Minnesota and Florida documented 374 ransomware attacks against health care delivery organizations from 2016 through 2021 finding that the personal health care information of more than 42 million Americans was exposed and nearly half disrupted the delivery of health care with common disruptions including electronic system downtime cancellations of scheduled care and ambulance diversionppHealth care providers are currently going through similar struggles in Southwest Ontario Canada where attackers stole millions of files containing staff and patient data and locked the hospitals out of their own systems according to a recent news accountppBrett Callow a threat analyst for for Emisoft a company that makes software that protects against cyberattacks said Thursday that the most common scenario when a hospital is attacked is data being stolen from the organizations computers prior to them being lockedppThese incidents dont only affect the hospital thats under attack they affect adjacent hospitals too as they have to take additional patients and of course many hospitals are already stretched close to the breaking point Callow said in an email The biggest concern is obviously the impact of patientsppSan Diego County health care providers are no strangers to severe cyberattacks In 2021 a ransomware attack shut down much of the Scripps Health network crippling electronic health care record access and forcing bedside workers to return to paper record keeping Access to medical imaging was also severely impacted and the organizations subsequent financial statements indicated the monthlong siege cost 113 million in lost revenue in addition to millions spent on settlements with affected patientsppIn the summer of 2021 UC San Diego Health also disclosed that it suffered a data breach that resulted in the potential release of protected information though the incursion did not affect daytoday operationsppIt was not clear Thursday morning just how much the TriCity attack has impacted the delivery of health care to patients currently being cared for at the facilityppCalling the situation fluid TriCity said it appreciates the communitys support and understanding and that its priority is our patients safety and protecting their private health informationppFollow Uspp Health ppNov 13 2023pp Health ppNov 10 2023pp Health ppNov 7 2023pp Health ppNov 6 2023pp Health ppNov 6 2023pp Health ppNov 6 2023pp Health ppHitting the slopes is an inherently risky endeavor To protect your knees shoulders and wrists this winter heres a 20minute strength workout to start nowpppp Health 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