A Hospital in Illinois (US) has has announced it will be closing after failing to financially recover from a Ransomware Attack which hit the hospital in 2021 which halted the hospital's ability to submit claims to insurers, Medicare or Medicaid for months, sending it into a financial spiral.
St. Margaret's Health in Spring Valley, Illinois, is set to close its doors this week, marking a grim milestone in the continuing struggle against cyber crime. The move was confirmed by Linda Burt, the hospital's Vice President of Quality and Community Services. Suzanne Stahl, the Chair of SMP Health, the hospital's parent organisation, indicated last month that the closure was imminent. In a recent Facebook video, she stated, "Due to a number of factors, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the cyber attack on the computer system of St. Margaret's Health, and a shortage of staff, it has become impossible to sustain our ministry." .
Ransomware Attacks are methods by which malicious threat actors remotely disable a business's computers, encrypt and/or copy files, and demand a ransom payment to restore access or prevent a leak of data. Cyber Security analysts have estimated that there have been approximately 300 documented attacks a year on US healthcare facilities alone since 2020.
This is just a single example of the potential devastating consequences that ransomware attacks can have, not only on a business, but in this case the far reaching effects it can have on an entire community. Spring Valley's mayor, Melanie Malooley-Thompson, expressed her concerns over the impact on local residents, some of whom will now have to travel approximately half an hour to access Emergency and Maternity services. She noted in a Facebook post, "The hospital closure will have a profound impact on the well-being of our community. This will be a challenging transition for many residents who rely on our hospital for quality healthcare.".
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To find out about all of this and much more, download our FREE Cyber Security Self Assessment form where we can work with you to ensure that your business has the best Cyber Security policies in place to protect your business from potentially having to close as the result of a Ransomware attack.