Pierluigi Paganini
November 06, 2024
A ransomware attack hit Memorial Hospital and Manor in Bainbridge, Georgia, and disrupted the access to its Electronic Health Record system.
Memorial Hospital and Manor is a community hospital and healthcare facility that serves Decatur County and surrounding areas in southwest Georgia. It offers a range of healthcare services, including emergency care, inpatient and outpatient services, surgical care, and specialized medical services. The facility includes both a hospital and a nursing home (manor), which provides long-term and rehabilitative care for residents.
“This is to inform you that Memorial Hospital and Manor is experiencing a ransomware incident. This impacts access to our Electronic Health Record system. While we believe this issue will not impact either the level or the quality of care we provide to our patients, we want to be fully transparent regarding this situation.” reads a post published by the hospital on Facabook.”
The hospital identified the ransomware attack early Saturday after antivirus software installed on the employees’ PCs flagged potential risks.
The organization immediately launched an internal investigation into the incident. The IT experts are working to recover the impacted systems.
Though operations were unaffected, staff had to switch to pen and paper to record patient information due to the attack.
“Please bear with us as you may experience longer wait times when you come to either the hospital or physician offices as we are working on a paper-based process,” the hospital added.
The hospital did not reveal if it had suffered a data breach following the ransomware attack.
Early this week, the Embargo ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the attack and the theft of 1.15 terabytes of data.
The Embargo ransomware gang has been active since April 2024, it runs a ransomware-as-a-service model and has claimed eight attacks, including another two attacks on U.S. healthcare providers, NorthBay Healthcare and Weiser Memorial Hospital.
Ransomware attacks on U.S. healthcare providers surged in 2024, with 98 attacks compromising 117 million records. Hospitals often face system lockdowns, forcing a switch to manual processes. High-profile breaches include Change Healthcare (100M records), Summit Pathology (1.8M), OnePoint Patient Care (796K), and Boston Children’s Health Physicians (909K).
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