Ohio’s Kettering Health struck by cyber attack

Diving brief:

• Kettering’s health is Faced with a cyber attack This has an impact on patient care, the Ohio -based health system said on Tuesday.
• The supplier was struck by a system of technology at the system scale on Tuesday morning due to unauthorized access to its network, Kettering said in a press release.
• The hospitalized and ambulatory procedures of your choice in health system facilities were canceled on Tuesday. The Kettering call center is also offline and may not be accessible, added the supplier.

Diving insight:

Kettering, which works 14 medical centers and 120 ambulatory installations In the west of Ohio, said only procedures to choose from are currently canceled. Emergencies and clinics of the health system continue to see patients, according to a press release.

“We have taken measures to contain and alleviate this activity and actively study and monitor the situation,” said the system.

However, some patients have received telephone calls from crooks who claim to be Kettering employees and request payment of the credit card for medical expenses, the health system announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Kettering said he had not established if the scam calls are linked to the cyber attack. The system said it would not try by phone to ask or receive payments until further notice.

The attack comes while cybersecurity has become a major challenge for the health care sector. An increased number of violation of health care data are linked to hacking or ransomwareA type of malware that refuses users access to their data, according to a recent study published in Jama Network Open.

Cyberattacks and computer system failures may also have important consequences for patientsForcing health systems to delay care or divert emergency cases to neighboring facilities. Industry is a lucrative target for cybercriminals, given the motivation of suppliers to end patient care disruptions And the high value of stolen medical records, according to experts.

The health care industry recently resisted the main cybersecurity incidents. At the beginning of 2024, the complaint processor belonging to Unitedhealth changed Healthcare was struck by a ransomware attack, Expose data from 190 million people – The greatest violation of health care never pointed out to federal regulators.

The sector will continue to cope cyber attacks and intrusions attemptssay the experts. This year, Yale New Haven Health discovered that an unauthorized third party had had access to its network, including data of around 5.6 million people. The Davita renal dialysis supplier was also faced with a Ransomware attack last month.