Pierluigi Paganini December 07, 2020

The Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Maryland, was hit by a ransomware attack that impacted computer systems and operations.

The Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson, Maryland was a victim of a ransomware attack that impacted its IT systems.

At the time of this writing, it is not clear the family of ransomware that hit the healthcare providers, it only confirmed that the security breach forced some procedures scheduled for Monday to be canceled.

“On the morning of Sunday, December 6, 2020, GBMC HealthCare detected a ransomware incident that impacted information technology systems. Although many of our systems are down, GBMC HealthCare has robust processes in place to maintain safe and effective patient care.” states the Computer Network Incident Update published by the healthcare provider. “Some procedures scheduled for Monday, December 7 may be affected. All patient’s whose procedures may be rescheduled have already been contacted. We regret any inconvenience to our patients, doctors and healthcare partners.”

GBMC HealthCare operates several facilities, including the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Gilchrist, Greater Baltimore Health Alliance, and GBMC Health Partners. The Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) has 342 beds and handles more than 23,000 admissions and over 52,000 emergency room visits annually.

GBMC confirmed that it is responding to the incident in accordance with its well-planned process and policies.

Unfortunately, ransomware attacks are becoming frequent in the US, in September the Universal Health Services (UHS), one of the largest hospital and healthcare services providers, has shut down systems at healthcare facilities in the United States after they were infected with the Ryuk ransomware.

In late October, the FBI, the DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a joint alert to warn hospitals and healthcare providers of imminent ransomware attacks from Russia.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, healthcare)

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