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LabCorp detects suspicious activity on its network

ATLANTA — Leaders at one of the world's largest medical lab-testing companies are still managing the fallout from a cyberattack.

North Carolina-based LabCorp has locations throughout metro Atlanta. It conducts millions of medical lab tests and keeps personal data on thousands of patients in the area and tens of millions more around the country, an objectively attractive target for hackers.

LabCorp said it detected suspicious activity on its network last weekend, forcing the company to take some systems offline to contain the attack and remove the malware, delaying test processing and customer access to test results.

A company spokesperson told Channel 2 Action News it found no evidence of theft or misuse of data.

The company told regulators, "LabCorp has notified the relevant authorities of the suspicious activity and will cooperate in any investigation."

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A 2016 Channel 2 Action News investigation exposed a surge in cyberattacks against health care companies with hackers going after the valuable information they keep.

Prosecutors broke down the challenges they face holding hackers accountable.

"By the time we put the pieces together to figure out who that person is, they're in the wind," Steven Grimberg with the Department of Justice said in 2016.

Investigators are still working to identify whoever was behind the crippling ransomware on the City of Atlanta's network in March.

As for the attack on LabCorp, a spokesperson told Channel 2 Action News:

"Work has been ongoing to restore full system functionality as quickly as possible, testing operations have substantially resumed, and we are working to restore additional systems and functions over the next several days."

The company said its in-depth investigation is ongoing with the help of outside security experts.