Mobile County Health Department & Special Health Resources of Texas Investigating Cyberattacks
Special Health Resources and Mobile County Health Department are investigating cyberattacks and Palomar Health Medical Group has made progress recovering from its May 5, 2024 cyberattack.
Special Health Resources of Texas
Special Health Resources of Texas, a network of healthcare centers in East Texas and Southwest Arkansas, has been forced to cancel routine and non-urgent appointments while it deals with a cyberattack that forced its computer systems offline. The disruption caused by the attack was so severe that the difficult decision was taken to temporarily close some of its clinics, including its Jacksonville Care Clinic and Texarkana Care Clinic. The disruption to computer systems and phone lines has continued for 10 days.
Special Health Resources alerted patients on June 3, 2024, about “technical difficulties” due to the attack and the disruption to patient services. Special Health Resources said its facilities are now open and are now accepting walk-ins from established patients, but says its dental services are still unavailable. Since phone lines are still down, patients have been advised to message via social media accounts. The BlackSuit ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack and has uploaded some of the exfiltrated data to its website, which includes provider and employee information. The extent to which patient data was involved has yet to be established, so in the interim, the breach has been reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights as affecting at least 500 individuals.
Mobile County Health Department
Mobile County Health Department in Georgia has confirmed that its computer network has been shut down as a precaution while it investigates a potential cyberattack. The health department continues to provide care for patients, although modifications have been made to procedures due to the unavailability of computer systems. Suspicious activity was detected on June 6, 2024, and systems are still offline. Third-party cybersecurity specialists have been engaged to assist with the investigation and evaluate the incident to determine its severity and impact.
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Palomar Health Medical Group
Palomar Health Medical Group in California has confirmed that it is making progress in recovering from a cyberattack that was detected on May 5, 2024. Systems were shut down as a precaution when suspicious network activity was detected. The outage affected its phones, faxes, patient portal, and electronic medical record systems which have been offline for more than a month.
In a June 12, 2024, letter to patients, Palomar Health Medical Group said its internet is still down and should be restored in the coming week, followed by its electronic medical record system, although doctors do have limited access to medical records using temporary programs. “This will improve the ability to contact your provider’s office, schedule appointments, get prescription refills electronically managed, and allow providers to have full electronic access to lab and radiology reports right in the electronic system again.” Palomar Health Medical Group has not disclosed whether this was a ransomware attack or if patient data was compromised.
