Cybersecurity: A Real Threat to Patient Safety

IN 2016, THE COMPUTER systems of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center were held hostage by hackers. Staff at the 434-bed hospital were unable to access the patient's medical records, and they had to resort to paper records. The hospital administration was under a ransomware attack, and the hackers who had the decryption demanded a ransom to unlock the system. The hackers were also asking for bitcoins, a hard-to-trace electronic currency favored by cyber criminals, as ransom. In the end, the administrators paid $17,000 in bitcoins to access their electronic health care records (EHRs).

Source: Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing - July 23, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Jacqueline Ross Tags: Patient Safety Source Type: research