UMC Health Notifies Patients Affected by September Ransomware Attack
UMC Health System has started notifying patients that some of their protected health information was exposed in a recent ransomware attack. Unusual activity was identified within its computer network on September 26, 2024, when ransomware was deployed to encrypt files. The forensic investigation confirmed that the attacker had access to its network from September 16 to September 26. The attack caused an outage that lasted for around 3 weeks. On October 23, 2024, UMC Health confirmed that its clinics were accepting all patients, and all patient-facing systems had been brought back online.
The forensic investigation confirmed that an unknown, unauthorized third party had accessed its network, including parts of the network containing patient information. That information may have been viewed or acquired before ransomware was used to encrypt files. UMC Health System has now reviewed the affected files and confirmed that they contain patients’ protected health information such as names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, diagnoses, health insurance information, provider names, and/or dates of treatment.
Notification letters started to be mailed to the affected individuals on November 22, 2024. UMC Health System has advised them to be vigilant against identity theft and fraud and recommends reviewing statements from healthcare providers and health insurers for any services that have not been received, and to report any anomalies to the relevant provider/insurer. UMC Health System said it has implemented additional technical safeguards to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The data breach has been reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights by Lubbock County Hospital District, the operator of UMC Health System, as affecting at least 501 individuals. The breach was reported to the Texas Attorney General as involving the personal information of 3,287 Texans. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and its center in El Paso have confirmed that the ePHI of 1,465,000 individuals was stolen in the ransomware attack.
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October 17, 2024: UMC Health Restores EHR After Ransomware Attack
UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, has confirmed that significant progress has been made in recovering from its September ransomware attack. The ransomware attack affected multiple systems, including systems shared by the affiliated Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Texas Tech Physicians. While care continued to be provided to patients and clinics remained open, its electronic medical record (EHR) system and other key systems were taken offline to contain the incident. Without access to critical systems, emergency and non-emergency patients were diverted to other facilities.
UMC Health operates 30 clinics in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico, including a health and wellness hospital, a pediatric hospital, and the only Level 1 Trauma Center within 400 miles. The divert has now been lifted for emergency patients arriving by ambulance but remains in place for a select number of patients.
On October 11, 2024, almost three weeks after the attack, UMC Health confirmed that it had restored its EHR system across all locations, its MyCareTeam patient portal has been brought back online, as has the Find-a-Physician page on its website. Now that the patient portal is back online, patients are able to communicate through the portal with their clinicians. Work is continuing on restoring access to other patient-facing systems and internal programs for patient care. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Texas Tech Physicians are still experiencing outages due to the attack.
“While these are important milestones in our recovery process, our investigation into the nature and scope of this incident remains ongoing, and we continue to work alongside third-party firms to safely restore full operations,” said UMC Health in a website update on the recovery. The investigation into the ransomware attack is ongoing and it is too early to tell if any patient data has been accessed or stolen in the attack.
