Nebraska Medicine confirmed its technology issues were caused by ‘cyber security attack’


Nebraska Medicine confirmed its technology issues were caused by 'cyber security attack'

Nebraska Medicine announced Thursday that it was the victim of a cyber security attack. On Monday, officials said that Nebraska Medicine was working to deal with a “security incident.”According to a statement from the hospital system Thursday evening, it experienced a “significant information technology system downtime event” which was caused by a “cyber security attack.” Thursday evening, Nebraska Medicine said it has notified law enforcement about the attack. Patients who had procedures and appointments that were elective or not critical in nature were rescheduled, according to a statement from Nebraska Medicine.The hospital system did not say whether records were accessed or compromised.Nebraska Medicine issued the following statement:”Earlier this week Nebraska Medicine experienced a significant information technology system downtime event. This downtime is the result of a cyber security attack. We notified law enforcement and activated our extensive and well planned contingency plans supported by trainings to prepare for these kinds of IT system situations. This includes prioritizing patients who have appointments or surgeries that are critical to their health and wellbeing. We have continued to see patients, as scheduled, using alternative, standardized processes to record and transmit information manually. For patients with elective procedures and appointments that were not critical in nature, we have rescheduled them and apologized for the inconvenience. Our emergency room remains open and we have not diverted any patients who arrive there. “The attacks on health care organizations are rapidly increasing, and we are constantly assessing our security measures to help prevent cyber security incidents. Our back-up and recovery processes assured that no patients’ electronic medical records were deleted or destroyed. We are grateful for our innovative and proactive IT team for implementing procedures that are enabling us to restore operations very quickly. We anticipate that normal operations will resume in days. The patience and professionalism that has been demonstrated by our staff and our providers during this difficult time has been remarkable, and we cannot thank them enough. We remain committed to providing extraordinary care, and will do everything we can to minimize any further disruption to our patients.”

Nebraska Medicine announced Thursday that it was the victim of a cyber security attack. On Monday, officials said that Nebraska Medicine was working to deal with a “security incident.”

According to a statement from the hospital system Thursday evening, it experienced a “significant information technology system downtime event” which was caused by a “cyber security attack.”

Thursday evening, Nebraska Medicine said it has notified law enforcement about the attack.

Patients who had procedures and appointments that were elective or not critical in nature were rescheduled, according to a statement from Nebraska Medicine.

The hospital system did not say whether records were accessed or compromised.

Nebraska Medicine issued the following statement:

“Earlier this week Nebraska Medicine experienced a significant information technology system downtime event. This downtime is the result of a cyber security attack. We notified law enforcement and activated our extensive and well planned contingency plans supported by trainings to prepare for these kinds of IT system situations. This includes prioritizing patients who have appointments or surgeries that are critical to their health and wellbeing. We have continued to see patients, as scheduled, using alternative, standardized processes to record and transmit information manually. For patients with elective procedures and appointments that were not critical in nature, we have rescheduled them and apologized for the inconvenience. Our emergency room remains open and we have not diverted any patients who arrive there.

“The attacks on health care organizations are rapidly increasing, and we are constantly assessing our security measures to help prevent cyber security incidents. Our back-up and recovery processes assured that no patients’ electronic medical records were deleted or destroyed. We are grateful for our innovative and proactive IT team for implementing procedures that are enabling us to restore operations very quickly. We anticipate that normal operations will resume in days. The patience and professionalism that has been demonstrated by our staff and our providers during this difficult time has been remarkable, and we cannot thank them enough. We remain committed to providing extraordinary care, and will do everything we can to minimize any further disruption to our patients.”


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