Medical facilities in five states affected by cyberattacks impacting patient services

Medical facilities across the country are trying to fix the damage caused by a cyberattack on Thursday that still impacted some services on Friday.

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The Associated Press reported that the “data security incident” affected hospitals and clinics owned by Prospect Medical Holdings, based in California. But the attack wasn’t isolated to the west coast. Facilities in Texas, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania were also targeted.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that it was a ransomware attack and that several facilities were impacted in Eastern Pennsylvania.

The FBI is investigating, WFSB reported.

“Upon learning of this, we took our systems offline to protect them and launched an investigation with the help of third-party cybersecurity specialists,” the company on Friday. “While our investigation continues, we are focused on addressing the pressing needs of our patients as we work diligently to return to normal operations as quickly as possible.”

Several services including elective surgeries, outpatient appointments and blood drives were canceled. Emergency rooms were able to reopen late Thursday but primary care services were still closed on Friday, according to the Eastern Connecticut Health Network.

Waterbury Hospital had to transition to paper records while they work with information technology specialists to resolve the situation, the AP reported.