Dive Brief:
- On Wednesday, MedStar Health said its staff was once again able to access EMRs after the Columbia, Maryland-based health system had nearly completed a restoration of its three main clinical IT systems, the Washington Business Journal reports.
- The system had shut down its online operations to halt a Monday cyber attack.
- Although MedStar did not detail whether the attack used "ransomware" to demand payment to release the system, the Washington Post said Wednesday it had evidence to that effect -- a photo from a MedStar employee showing a computer screen asking for $19,000 in bitcoin currency in exchange for the system's data.
Dive Insight:
The case appears to be part of the wave of ransomeware attacks recently leveled against hospitals and required staff at the system, which has 10 hospitals and about 250 outpatient facilities, to "go old school."
Neither the system nor the FBI would confirm for the media that ransomware was involved in the attack, but the FBI did provide a media statement to the effect that ransomware is a growing threat and resulted in reported losses of more than $24 million last year.
"Companies can prevent and mitigate malware infection by utilizing appropriate backup and malware detection and prevention systems, and training employees to be skeptical of emails, attachments, and websites they don’t recognize," the FBI told the Washington Business Journal.
MedStar officials confirmed Wednesday that clinical systems were getting back online but said email remained down at that time and that some systems remained unconfirmed, such as radiation oncology.