DeKalb Health suffers ransomware attack, diverts patients to other hospitals

Auburn, Ind.-based DeKalb Health is investigating a ransomware attack that temporarily disrupted the health system's administrative computer system, reports WANE.

According to a statement DeKalb Health provided to WANE, the health system implemented standard down time operating procedures during the network disruption. In certain cases, patients were transferred to another hospital, and EMS services were routed to other facilities.

"I am pleased to say many of our administrative systems are already back online," said Craig Polkow, CEO of DeKalb Health, in the statement. "We anticipate administrative computer disruptions among other scenarios as part of our normal training and everyone did their jobs wonderfully."

The health system continues to investigate the incident with a third-party forensics firm and is working to bring all the systems back online.

DeKalb Health did not specify which systems went down or for how long, nor did it indicate if it paid a ransom. In the statement, the health system said it cannot release further details about the incident since the investigation is ongoing.

DeKalb Health did not immediately return a request for comment.

More articles on ransomware:

HHS' OCR to develop guide on preparing for, responding to ransomware 
House of Representatives targeted in ransomware attempts 
First known ransomware attack in 1989 also targeted healthcare 

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