The clinic chose not to pay the ransom, and the hackers shut down its phone lines and IT systems. The clinic told Fox 4 News that it has lost staff as a result of the incident and only just got its phones back online, according to the July 25 report.
Florida Heart Associates CEO Todd Rauchenberger said the clinic is operating at about 50 percent and is taking walk-in appointments to accommodate patients. He told the network that the clinic hopes to be back up and fully running by late August or early September.
The clinic discovered unusual activity on its IT network May 19, after which it launched an investigation with law enforcement. It found that hackers gained access to its network between May 9 and May 19 and reported the breach to HHS on July 7 as affecting 45,148 people.
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