Cyberattack disrupts the operations of Capital Health hospitals

Capital Health hospitals and physician offices in New Jersey face widespread IT outages following a cyberattack on its network. The healthcare system managing two prominent hospitals and numerous primary and speciality care practices is now navigating the impact of the significant cybersecurity incident.

Capital Health administers the Regional Medical Center in Trenton and Capital Health Medical Center in Hopewell, taking immediate action to ensure patient care remains unaffected. Both hospitals still accept incoming patients, including those requiring emergency services, but they must adhere to the established protocols during the system downtime.

The organisation has reported the incident to relevant authorities and cooperates with law enforcement, third-party forensic experts, and IT professionals to address the impacted services.

 

Capital Health assured everyone they would continue their standard operation despite the cyberattack.

 

Capital Health reassures the public that emergency rooms will remain open, and their teams will provide necessary treatment for patients’ medical needs. However, the healthcare institution has rescheduled the elective surgical and procedure schedules. Unfortunately, outpatient radiology services are unavailable, and specific tests will have new schedules.

The situation’s impact could impact the admission since system limitations will still have effect for at least another week. As of now, the company and its security team are investigating the attack to prevent it from worsening and avoid total operational disruption.

A recent tally revealed that at least 36 U.S. hospitals have fallen victim to ransomware attacks this year, with data theft reported in 26 cases.

Ardent Health Services, managing 30 hospitals across six U.S. states, also recently confirmed falling prey to a ransomware campaign. The incident forced Ardent emergency rooms to redirect incoming patients requiring emergency care to other hospitals.

The alarming frequency of such attacks has prompted federal warnings, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services warning healthcare organisations about the Royal, Venus, Maui, and Zeppelin ransomware organisations.

This incident further highlights the vulnerability of the healthcare sector to cyberattacks. Hence, these institutions should significantly invest in more robust cybersecurity measures to avoid attacks that could affect daily operations and ultimately impact human lives.