Major hacks have occurred in various parts of the country, from general hospitals and children’s centers to faith-based operations.
In recent days, the University of Mississippi Medical Center was hit. That facility, located in Jackson, could take “weeks and months” to recover from the hack, according to news reports.
Twila Brase, a registered nurse and president/co-founder of Citizens' Council for Health Freedom, said hacking into medical records is considered very lucrative. That’s because it shuts down the hospital, often stops surgeries, and staffers have to go back to pen and paper. A return to normal often occurs only when the ransom is paid.
"So the pressure is on for the hospital to provide the ransom to the hackers," Brase told AFN.
The ransomware attack on UMMC, which hit the state’s largest health care system, did include ransom demands. The hospital system, which has temporarily moved to paper in many cases, refused to tell reporters if it was negotiating payment or refusing the demand.
Meanwhile, Brase believes government bears some responsibility for pushing electronic health records. What she says was sold to the public as a modern-day convenience is also a “government-imposed” security risk for hospitals and patients.
“These hackers know that they can get access into these systems, and if there's a system to be hacked, there is data to be had, and they can hold all of that data,” she warned.
