Chino Valley Medical Centre, a 126-bed community hospital and Desert Valley Hospital a 148-bed facility, both part of Prime Healthcare Services Inc., were targeted.
Hackers accessed one of the hospital’s computers spreading a malware programme to encrypt data on computers. The cyber criminals then demanded a ransom.
In February, Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital paid out $17,000
in Bitcoins tin order to regain access to computer servers shut down by ransomware.
"Nothing was paid and no patient or employee data was compromised,” Fred Ortega, a spokesman for Prime Healthcare, said of the recent attacks adding that technology experts contained the hacking.
Most operations were carried out as scheduled while IT professionals
restored the systems.
“This is similar to challenges hospitals across the country are facing, and we have taken extraordinary steps to protect and expeditiously find a resolution to this disruption,” Ortega said.
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Recent alarms in cyber attacks have underlined the need for strong IT security within hospitals and training for staff to know how to deal with suspicious emails under the pressure of heavy e-traffic.
A recent HIMSS and Symantec report revealed that, in spite of increased IT operations in healthcare, the majority of hospitals devote less than 6 percent of IT budgets to data.
Meanwhile, a ransomware attack attempt on the Ottawa Hospital failed owing to a solid back-up system in place for information retrieval.
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