During a month-long ransomware attack on four hospitals in 2021, two neighboring hospital emergency departments experienced increased patient volumes, wait times and stroke patients, among other impacts, according to a study reported this month in JAMA Network Open.
 
“This important study provides empirical data that demonstrates increased emergency department strain and stroke code activations at hospitals adjacent to a hospital attacked by ransomware, potentially creating a risk to patient safety. The diversion of patients and ambulances carrying stroke, heart attack and trauma patients may create a disruption and delay of urgent care throughout an entire region during a ransomware attack, creating what I call the ‘ransomware blast radius.’ This report affirms guidance provided by the AHA that emergency management, cyber incident response and disaster recovery plans be integrated and include ransomware as a hazard that is planned for internally and on a regional basis, under what we refer to as the ‘5R concept’ — Regional Readiness, Response, Resiliency and Recovery.”

Related News Articles

Headline
The National Security Agency April 23 released a report on operational technology systems that includes recommendations for security policies and technical…
Chairperson's File
Public
Cybersecurity and physical threats are unfortunately significant enterprise risks for health care, regardless of size or location. Every hospital, physician…
Headline
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency April 17 released guidance to reduce risks associated with a reported breach of Oracle cloud services.…
Headline
The National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the FBI, and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Center yesterday released guidance on…
AHA Cyber Intel
While the rate of cyberattacks on hospitals has risen dramatically, the severity of the impacts has also grown exponentially. Let’s look at the state of cyber…
Headline
The House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee April 1 discussed cybersecurity threats in legacy medical devices during a hearing. The…