Cybersecurity news for hospitals and health systems

The Baltimore-based University of Maryland added 30,468 patients to the tally of people affected by the Accellion data breach.

Hoboken (N.J.) Radiology began notifying patients May 28 that their protected health information was vulnerable to unauthorized access for about a year and a half. 

Sturdy Memorial Hospital began notifying patients May 28 that some of their protected health information had been stolen by hackers, prompting the Attleboro, Mass.-based hospital to pay a ransom to stop the data from being redistributed. 

Spikes in data breaches and ransomware attacks have served as a wake-up call for many companies to bulk up their cybersecurity teams, causing shortages nationwide, according to a May 28 CNN article. 

Scripps Health's Epic EHR system and online patient portal were restored May 27, nearly four weeks after a ransomware attack knocked the San Diego-based health system's network offline, The San Diego-Union Tribune reported. 

Pennsylvania's National Guard will take over COVID-19 contact tracing for the state after the health department fired its vendor over a data breach, according to a May 27 article published by local CBS affiliate KDKA.

In May, 35 organizations reported to HHS that 2,690,944 individuals were affected by data breaches.

The federal government released a $50 billion governmentwide acquisition contract opportunity geared toward cybersecurity and health IT tools this week, NextGov reported May 27.

Nobelium, the Russian hacker group behind the SolarWinds data breach, has launched an attack on more than 150 organizations in the last week, according to a May 27 Microsoft blog post.

Here are 18 quick notes about ransomware in the healthcare industry: