The hospital took its computer system offline on July 25 after identifying the attack and was able to restore its main system on Aug. 19 after resolving issues related to the attack. During the weeks of downtime, the hospital reverted to paper records and alternative methods for payroll and accounting.
Samaritan also postponed some services during the downtime, and the malware attack disrupted its drug delivery, radiation therapy and medical imaging services. But the hospital’s IT team continued to work on restoring computer systems and applications through Oct. 6.
Samaritan confirmed in a statement that no patient or employee data was accessed or acquired during the attack. The hospital is now operating as normal and sending information to the health information exchange. The hospital’s website and patient portals are running again, and Samaritan’s email system is fully operational.
Despite the computer system restoration, Samaritan’s President and CEO Thomas Carman said in the statement that there could be residual delays as the hospital transitions from paper downtime procedures back online and enters information into its systems.
More articles on cybersecurity:
Employees describe chaotic scene at UHS hospitals amid IT incident
‘It’s not a good week for healthcare’: Health system IT execs react to recent ransomware attacks
HHS tells hospitals to guard against Ryuk ransomware attack: 10 things to know
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