A cyberattack on a hospital in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, is causing delays to both scheduled and non-urgent care. The hospital identified a “network issue” on Tuesday, which was later confirmed to be a cyberattack. While the hospital has not confirmed whether it was a ransomware attack, it has hired cybersecurity experts to address the issue.
The hospital has prioritized patient-centered care, and its clinical Electronic Health remains unaffected. Despite this, the hospital has warned that patients may experience treatment delays. To receive updates on the situation, the hospital has asked patients to follow its social media accounts. The hospital has a staff of 1,200 employees, including 180 physicians, and 175 beds.
The cyberattack is part of a larger series of attacks aimed at Canada following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Similar DDoS attacks targeted the websites of Hydro-Québec and ports in Montreal, Halifax, and Quebec. The prime minister’s office website was also downed for several hours by DDoS attacks. Trudeau noted that it is not uncommon for Russian hackers to target countries that support Ukraine.
Hospitals have been continuously targeted by hackers and ransomware groups in 2023, causing several healthcare facilities to be affected by cyber incidents in the past three months. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has received reports of dozens of attacks on healthcare institutions in the last two months.
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