Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Security Incident

2 min read Cyberattack strikes Chicago children's hospital, exposing data of over 790,000 Farah Amod Jul 1, 2024 5:36:11 PM Cybersecurity On January 31, 2024, the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago fell victim to a sophisticated cyberattack that brought down its IT systems, including the Epic electronic health record (EHR) and the MyChart patient portal. The incident forced hospital staff to revert to manual record-keeping procedures as they scrambled to provide patient care without access to their digital systems. It took until May 20, 2024, for the hospital to restore full functionality to its EHR and other affected systems, marking a four-month period of recovery and data restoration efforts. Lurie Children's cited the complexity of its IT infrastructure and the advanced nature of the attack as the primary reasons for the prolonged restoration process. The backstory The forensic investigation revealed that the unauthorized third-party perpetrators had gained access to Lurie Children's systems as early as January 26, 2024, five days before the attack was detected and the systems were taken offline. During this window, the hackers were able to access and potentially exfiltrate sensitive patient data. In its breach notification letter to the Maine Attorney General, Lurie Children's confirmed that the exposed information varied on an individual basis but could include names, contact details, dates of service, medical diagnoses and treatments, insurance details, and even Social Security numbers. The hospital estimated that the data breach impacted a staggering 791,784 individuals. Going deeper The ransomware group behind the attack, identified as Karakurt , claimed responsibility and demanded a $3.4 million ransom payment in exchange for the stolen data. However, Lurie Children's refused to comply, citing the lack of any guarantee that the data would be recovered or deleted. Instead, the hospital worked closely with law enforcement to retrieve...

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