Great Plains hospital says ransomware attack impacted over 133,000 patients

Elk City, Oklahoma-based not-for-profit healthcare provider Great Plains Regional Medical Center said that the data security incident it suffered in September compromised the sensitive personal information of more than 133,000 individuals.

 

In a notice of data security incident on its website, Great Plains said that on September 8, it was a victim of a ransomware attack where threat actors deployed malicious code in the hospital’s internal network and encrypted its systems.

 

The healthcare provider immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the scope of the incident. It also took steps to secure the affected systems and notified law enforcement agencies about the incident.

 

“This investigation showed that an unknown person accessed and encrypted files on our systems between September 5, 2024 and September 8, 2024,” Great Plains said. 

 

“We learned that the bad actor copied some of those files. We quickly restored our systems and returned to normal operations, but we also determined that a limited amount of patient information was not recoverable.”

 

The compromised data included patients’ names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, demographic information, health insurance information, clinical treatment information, such as diagnosis and medication information.

 

In a filing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Great Plains said that it has identified at least 133,149 individuals who were impacted by the incident.

 

The healthcare provider has advised all affected individuals to regularly monitor their credit reports, account and benefit statements and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities, including the police and state attorney general.

 

It has also offered complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services to all individuals whose Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers were compromised during the incident.

 

At the time of publishing, no known hacker group has claimed responsibility for the ransomware attack on Great Plains Regional Medical Center. The healthcare provider has also not shared the identity of the hacker group or whether it was presented with a ransom demand.