Campbell County Memorial Hospital in Wyoming hit by ransomware attack

Campbell County Memorial Hospital in Gilette, Wyoming is facing service disruptions after a ransomware attack hit its computer systems on Friday.

On Friday, the Campbell County Memorial Hospital in Gilette, Wyoming, suffered a ransomware attack that is still causing service disruptions.

“Campbell County Health has been the victim of a ransomware attack. All CCH computer systems have been affected, which impacts the organization’s ability to provide patient care,” reads a statement published by the Campbell County Health.

The ransomware attack is having a dramatic impact con the operations at the hospital, the staff has canceled some surgeries, as well as respiratory therapy and radiology exams and procedures. The hospital has temporarily halted new inpatient admissions.

“Campbell County Health continues to have service disruptions, however, the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), the Emergency Department, Maternal Child (OB) and the Walk-in Clinic are open to assess patients and treat or transfer patients as appropriate.” reads an update published by the hospital. “It is advised to call to confirm your appointment prior to going in. All patients are also asked to bring medication bottles with them to their appointment.”

Immediately after the discovery of the attack, the hospital announced that that the patients presenting to the emergency department and walk-in clinic would be assessed and transferred to an appropriate care facility if needed.

“We are working with regional facilities to transfer patients to if we are not able to provide safe care. The Emergency Department is open and staffed with our expert team of physicians and nursing to assess and evaluate patient care needs,” announced the Campbell County Health.

According to the management at the Campbell County Health hospital, patient and employee data was not accessed in the ransomware attack.

The organization reported the incident to the authorities that still investigating the security breach.

“At this point in time, there is no evidence that any patient data has been accessed or misused. The investigation is ongoing, and we will provide updates when more information becomes available. We are working diligently to restore complete access to our services,” Campbell County Health added.

As on Sunday, the majority of the services at the hospital was restored, however, patients are invited to call in advance to confirm their appointments.

Recently several US cities have suffered ransomware attacks, in August at least 23 Texas local governments were targeted by coordinated attacks.

Some cities in Florida were also victims of hackers, including Key Biscayne, Riviera Beach and Lake City. In June, the Riviera Beach City agreed to pay $600,000 in ransom to decrypt its data after a ransomware-based attack hit its computer system. A few days later, Lake City also agreed to pay nearly $500,000 in ransom after a ransomware attack.

In July 2018, another Palm Beach suburb, Palm Springs, decided to pay a ransom, but it was not able to completely recover all its data.

In March 2019, computers of Jackson County, Georgia, were infected with ransomware that paralyzed the government activity until officials decided to pay a $400,000 ransom to decrypt the files.

The list of ransomware attacks is long and includes schools in Louisiana and Alabama.

Health organizations weren’t spared either, LabCorp and Hancock Health being only two of the most recently affected.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Campbell County Memorial Hospital, hacking)

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