Brockton Hospital's cyberattack knocked out critical systems, forcing ambulance diversions and canceling chemotherapy appointments. Experts believe it was financially motivated. Hospital staff switched to pen and paper to keep patients safe while investigators analyze network data to restore services.
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Well, 708, Brockton Hospital hit by a healthcare hack, and officials say they are taking steps to protect patient data, but it is impacting service there. 7's Hannah Cotter is live in Brockton with the details on this. Hannah.
Well, Brandon, a spokesperson for the hospital says they're not sure when everything will be back online, but that patients can expect delays as they work through the issue. Brockton Hospital hit by a cyber attack. Taking some systems offline and forcing ambulances to divert to other hospitals. A spokesperson says a staff member noticed suspicious activity Monday morning. Now they're switching to old-school pen and paper to document patient information.
And by moving to paper, they are successfully managing what we would call, you know, the digital health, um, of their employees to ensure that, you know, despite the technical friction, uh, the patient safety remains, you know, the, the one variable that isn't compromised.
Robert Siciliano is a cybersecurity expert in the Boston area. While it's still unclear who is responsible for the attack, he says money is likely the motive.
Whenever we see a breach, there's usually a criminal enterprise behind it that has a motivation to get paid.
Signature Healthcare says so far there is no indication that any patient data has been compromised, but some services, including chemotherapy infusions for cancer patients, are canceled Tuesday. Surgeries and other procedures are continuing as scheduled as crews work to get everything back up and running.
They're looking at IP addresses, MAC addresses, trying to find the source or the root of the compromise, and they're also looking deeper into their own network to see if there's any other aspects that were affected so they can make sure before those parts of the network go back online, they are properly protected.
And Signature's retail pharmacies in Brockton and East Bridgewater are closed today. Patients are being asked to call the Greene Cancer Center to reschedule any canceled appointments. We're live in Brockton, Hannah Cotter, 7 News Today New England.
