Marianna, Fla.-based Jackson Hospital's IT department quickly stopped a ransomware attack on its charting software by shutting down the hospital's computer systems, CNN reported Jan. 16.
On Jan. 16, the hospital's emergency room noticed that it couldn't get access to its charting system, used by doctors to look up a patient's medical history. This is when the hospital's IT director realized the charting system, maintained by an outside vendor, was infected with ransomware.
The hospital decided to shut down its computer systems to stop the attack from spreading throughout the entire hospital.
Jackson Hospital's staff had to quickly shift from electronic records to handwritten records to maintain hospital flow.
Jamie Hussey, Jackson Hospital's IT director, told CNN that it will be a gradual recovery for the hospital and that the emergency room charting system might be offline for the rest of the week.