Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth, Ohio is just the latest victim in a string of cyberattacks that have crippled businesses and public agencies across Ohio.
Early on Thursday morning, the hospital announced what they called “an unplanned downtime of clinical systems.” Just a few hours later, the hospital admitted what many suspected, they were the latest victim in a string of cyber-attacks targeting businesses and organizations across Ohio and the nation.
According to a statement from the hospital, “This morning, an unauthorized third-party gained access to SOMC’s computer servers in what appears to be a targeted cyber attack. We are working with federal law enforcement and internet security firms to investigate this incident.”
The incident is so severe that the hospital is diverting ambulances to other hospitals, though they said they are still able to provide care to current patients.”
Typically, these attackers lock critical systems and demand huge ransom payouts to return control to the rightful owners. Often, they begin to delete critical information and files if the ransom is not paid in a specified amount of time.
Sources close to the situation told SCDN the ransom demanded is $10 Million in Bitcoin.
Thursday evening, the hospital announced that appointments in the following departments were canceled UFN:
Medical Care Foundation Office
- Outpatient Medical Imaging
- Cancer Services
- Cardiovascular Testing
- Cardiac Catherization
- Outpatient Surgery
- Outpatient Physical and Occupational Rehab
Ohio Held Hostage
SOMC is not the only organization in Ohio currently held hostage by these crooks. The Toledo Lucas County Public Library’s website went down earlier this week after a ransomware attack. The library said, “As you may know, the Library has been experiencing network issues this week due to a cybersecurity incident. We are working with a team of network and forensic experts to restore services as quickly as possible.”
Several television stations in the area were affected by a ransomware attack on the Sinclair Broadcast Group nearly a month ago with some stations still unable to insert local commercials. Instead, viewers see a graphic asking for their patience as the company addresses the attack.
Even comic books have been hit by cyber-criminals. Diamond Distribution, the largest distributor of comics and graphic novels in the USA, had operations ground to a halt after cyber-criminals took over their system.
Just three days ago, the Justice Department announced the indictment of a Ukrainian man and a Russian man in ransomware attacks where victims paid the men upwards of $6 million.
