A Chicago children's hospital is the latest victim of increasing cyberattacks in the US as it was forced to shut down its network last week temporarily.
The Lurie Children's Hospital said it has limited access to its medical records, including staff members' documents, as a response to a "cybersecurity matter."
The cyberattack occurred on Jan. 31, but was not made public until Feb. 4, Sunday.
Lurie assured that the network outage will not directly affect most of its operations. However, Several scheduled surgeries were canceled because of difficulties accessing electronic hospital records.
Cyberattack Actors Remain Unidentified
The hospital did not disclose the nature and intent of the cyberattack but experts believed it to be some form of ransomware hacking.
As of writing, its online platforms remain inaccessible as the hospital's management tries to restore network security.
The Lurie Children's Hospital is currently working with authorities to investigate the attack and identify its perpetrators.
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Healthcare and Public Health Agency Cyberattacks Continue to Increase
The cyberattack on Lurie is only the latest news of a growing number of online disruptions against healthcare facilities in the US.
Just last December, a cyberattack has crippled several emergency rooms in at least three states after hackers were detected to be tampering with patient's healthcare records.
A few months earlier, St. Margaret's Health, also in Illinois, cited a 2021 ransomware attack for its decision to close doors last June.
The Department of Health and Human Services earlier reported that "cyber incidents" in the health sector have increased by 93% from 2018 to 2022.
At least 100 million people in need of healthcare assistance are estimated to have been affected by the attacks.
According to the department, the majority of the attacks were ransomware campaigns.
The HHS is currently working with other government agencies and hospitals nationwide to "bolster our cyber security" amidst growing concerns about cyberattacks.
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