Cyber attack forced Watsonville Community Hospital staff to rely on pen and paper to attend to patients

A major cyber attack on Watsonville Community Hospital in California created major operational disruptions, forcing hospital staff to rely on pen and paper to attend to patients.

On December 12, Watsonville Community Hospital posted a data security incident notice on its website, stating that its computer systems were facing disruptions. The healthcare provider said it had launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

Also, its own IT team along with third-party IT specialists were “working around the clock to restore systems to full functionality.”

“In the meantime, we have implemented our standard downtime protocols, which essentially means we are operating on a paper system, including things like paper patient charting and paper prescriptions,” the hospital said. “Our staff is fully trained to operate this way and their focus is, as always, on our patients and providing safe, quality care.”
 
The community hospital added that its Emergency Department was fully open, but patients could experience delays as a result of the incident. It has been providing all inpatient and outpatient care as usual.

While Watsonville Community Hospital is yet to share details on the nature and scope of the incident or who is behind the data security incident, the Termite ransomware group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on the healthcare provider and listed it as a victim on its data leak site.

The group claims to have accessed the hospital’s internal database, and shared sample screenshots on its dark web portal to prove the authenticity of its claims.

 

Earlier this month, the same ransomware group claimed to have launched a ransomware attack on Blue Yonder and stealing 680 GB of data from the company, including databases and email lists for future attacks.