The Surgeons of Lake County, in Libertyville, IL, announced last month that its computer network had been hacked and data had been encrypted pending payment of a ransom. The small medical practice refused to pay for the password to its data, which included patients’ electronic medical records, instead shutting the server down and notifying authorities.
According to Bloomberg‘s “Tech Blog,” it is unclear whether or not the Surgeons of Lake County had backups of the data or has recovered any of it. The practice has declined comment on the situation. More of this type of data breach can be expected in the future, and in fact there have been similar cases in the past, involving patients’ Social Security numbers and prescription records being intercepted in one instance and hospitals being blackmailed by outsourced transcription employees in another.
Firewalls, backup solutions, and server failover solutions are increasingly critical to healthcare practices and organizations. For these and managed IT services, contact a Microwize Technology healthcare IT consultant today.