"NJ Hospital CentraState Diverting Patients After Cyberattack, IT Shutdown"

The CentraState Medical Center in New Jersey, Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Barbados are experiencing ongoing difficulties due to cyberattacks. John Riggi, the American Hospital Association's National Advisor for Cybersecurity and Risk, has previously warned that threat actors would be very active during the holiday season, and the continued disruptions validate his predictions. According to the most recent ransomware data from Emsisoft, ransomware attacks targeting the healthcare sector have remained consistent over the past few years. In 2022, 25 providers and their 290 hospitals were affected by these attacks, with the CommonSpirit Health incident in the fall being the most noteworthy. While two of the most recent events have affected global providers, the interruptions and successful processes should serve as lessons for the US regarding prioritizing patient safety while developing incident response protocols. CentraState is the latest healthcare provider to fall victim to a cyberattack. Officials said the hospital is experiencing technical difficulties associated with an Information Technology (IT) security problem and is operating under care diversion procedures, diverting arriving patients to nearby facilities. The hospital is functioning under Electronic Health Record (ECR) downtime procedures with paper processes, allowing it to continue documenting patient care using available records on-site. This article continues to discuss the increase in cyberattacks against the healthcare sector and recent incidents faced by healthcare providers. 

SC Magazine reports "NJ Hospital CentraState Diverting Patients After Cyberattack, IT Shutdown"