How Vermonts largest hospital now protects patient info 3 years after ransomware attack

pBURLINGTON Vt WCAX Nearly three years after Vermonts largest hospital fell victim to a ransomware attack hospital officials say theyve made progress toward better systems to protect patient informationppDuring the breach nearly 1300 servers were compromised on more than 5000 devices across the UVM Health Network Hospital officials say while no patient or employee information was stolen the process cost them 65 millionppIn the years since the attack hospital officials say theyve been able to strengthen their systems However experts say threats like this are becoming more commonplaceppIt affected every single part of our function everything that we do Unbelievable UVM Medical Center President and COO Dr Stephen Leffler testified before a joint committee on Capitol Hill referring to the employeecaused ransomware attack that compromised thousands of devices within the network in October 2020ppSomeone had their computer at home clicked on something plugged back into the system when they came back to work thats how it happened Leffler saidppOne click that left more than 5000 devices across the health network under siegeppLeffler said the hospitals IT department acted quickly and shut down everything from the internet to the hospitals electronic medical record systems That forced staffers to switch to paper records The shutdown lasted nearly a monthppYou can practice all you want and we practice frequently to be down a day or two but no one is prepared for 28 days Leffler saidppIn the years following the attack Leffler said the hospital has taken significant steps to double down on cybersecurity like adding more layers of authenticating and strengthening the process to access electronic recordsppSo if it happens again I think people should be reassured that we did well the first time and were even more prepared now he saidppDespite added protections cybersecurity experts warn threats like this one are everevolving and to protect against them it can start with youppI want to make it so that everyone has a security mindset so that when they see something they immediately question it And until organizations like Microsoft and all the other email providers do a better job of filtering those garbage emails out those phishing attempts and the spam its going to be a part of our life said Henry Collier a cybersecurity expert at Norwich UniversityppLeffler said training for staff has improved dramatically as well The hospital has even worked with the IT department to send out emails with fake links to use as teaching moments for employees who interact with themppIn his testimony on Capitol Hill Leffler called on lawmakers to push for more federal grants to help purchase stronger security softwareppRelated StoriesppUVM Medical Center assists DC cybersecurity subcommitteesppLessons learned from cyberattack on UVM Health NetworkppExperts say employee education key to avoiding phishing attacksppHospital network reveals cause of 2020 cyberattackppUVM Health Network continues to tally costs of ransomware attackppHow can UVM Health Network prevent future cyberattacksppUVM Health Network faces 21M in lossesppUVM Medical Center admits it was victim of ransomware attackppUVM Heath Network cyberattack fixes expected to exceed 63MppBatch of UVM Health Network positive COVID tests not reported to Vt health officialsppYCQM Nov 29 2020ppUVM Medical Center continuing cyberattack recoveryppWhat are lessons learned from UVM Health Network hackppCrippled by cyberattack UVM Health Network says more data recovery work aheadppA closer look at the Vt National Guard Cyber Response teamppCybersecurity experts from the Vt National Guard help UVM Health NetworkppUVMHN Significant gains made in network recovery following cyberattackppUVM Health Network slowly coming back online after cyberattackppUVM Health Network still dealing with cyberattack mysterious smellppAs investigators probe UVM hospitals cyberattack IT races to repair networkppUVM Health Network a victim of cyberattackppUVM Health Network investigating if network issue is result of a possible cyberattackppCopyright 2023 WCAX All rights reservedp