Two Hospitals in Puerto Rico Suffer Ransomware Attack Impacting Over 520,000 Patients' Data

• The ransomware infection encrypted all computer files that contained patients’ personal information.
• The incident impacted nearly 422,496 Bayamón Medical Center patients and 99,943 Puerto Rico Women And Children’s Hospital patients.

What is the issue?

Bayamón Medical Center and its affiliated Puerto Rico Women And Children’s Hospital fell victim to a ransomware attack impacting over 520,000 patients's data.

The big picture

Bayamón Medical Center reported that 422,496 patients were potentially impacted, while Puerto Rico Women And Children’s Hospital reported that 99,943 patients were potentially impacted by the incident.

The ransomware infection encrypted all computer files that contained patients’ personal information.

“As a precautionary measure, Bayamon Medical Center y Puerto Rico Women And Children’s Hospital (collectively, the “Hospitals”) would like to notify the community that the Hospitals faced a recent security incident which potentially involves personal information of the Hospitals’ patients,” the press release read.

What actions were taken?

• Upon learning about the incident, the hospitals conducted an internal investigation to determine the source and extent of the attack.
• The hospitals hired a third-party consultant to help them in recovering the encrypted files.
• The hospitals are also working with IT consultants to review their security systems and update their technical, administrative, and physical security measures in order to avoid such incidents from happening in the future.

“As a result of our investigation, the Hospitals believe that the records were simply encrypted and there is currently no indication that the information itself has otherwise been used by any unauthorized individual,” the hospitals said.