Cybersecurity news for hospitals and health systems

Mobile, Ala.-based Springhill Medical Center was the target of a ransomware attack earlier in July, according to Fox affiliate WALA.

Staff at Roper St. Francis Hospital were unable to access computer systems most of day July 25, according to local ABC affiliate WCIV.

Louisville, Ky.-based Park DuValle Community Health Center paid hackers around $70,000 to unlock around 20,000 patients' medical records that have been inaccessible since June due to a ransomware attack, according to local news station WDRB.

Healthcare providers and organizations across the country fell victim to ransomware, phishing attacks and other cybersecurity breaches in the past month.

Mobile, Ala.-based Springhill Medical Center is operating without full function of its computer systems after the facility shut down its network July 16 in the aftermath of a cybersecurity incident, WPMI, an NBC affiliate, reports.

Greenville, Texas-based Hunt Memorial Hospital District has notified 3,700 patients that their medical records may have been exposed due to a criminal cyberattack.

A Google salesman and lobbyist invited a top aide for Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young to compare its email and office software in an effort to lure city officials away from its competitor Microsoft, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Northwood, a Michigan HIPAA business associate, has notified more than 15,000 patients that a hacker had gained access to an employee's email account and potentially viewed their protected health information, according to the HIPAA Journal.

Data breaches have increased by 12 percent within the past five years, with the healthcare industry experiencing the highest costs at $6.5 million on average per breach, according to IBM Security's recent report. 

Cancer Treatment Centers of America discovered on June 6 that an employee's email account at its Philadelphia-based Eastern Regional Medical Center was compromised in a phishing attack, according to the HIPAA Journal.