LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Norton Healthcare is still recovering from a cyber event that happened on May 9.
Renee Murphy, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer at Norton, said what happened that Tuesday "is a part of an active, thorough and ongoing investigation."
While staff may have to use pen and paper, she said they are continuing to help patients receive the care they need.
“We understand the community has many questions. We know our patients have questions. We do too and experts are working as quickly as they can to get answers," Murphy said.
She revealed that on May 9 the Information Services team noticed suspicious activity on the network and were "alerted to the receipt of a faxed communication containing threats and demands."
The team then took the network offline and removed access to the internet and email.
“Within days, we learned that Norton Healthcare was the victim of a cyber-event & we contacted the FBI," she said. “Our CEO and entire leadership team have been dedicated to getting answers, restoring the network and working diligently to support our teams.”
Murphy said they are working around the clock to get answers and are trying to determine the extent of what information may have been accessed, if any.
"If the investigation determines that personal information has been compromised, those potentially affected will be notified,” she said.
She added the security team is also working to determine if each application is safe to bring back online, and are analyzing them thoroughly.
“This was a cyber-event that happened to us. Sadly, these types of events happen across the country to many businesses and healthcare systems. Despite all the precautions we have taken and significant resources we dedicate to cyber-security, we were still the victim of a crime," she said.
However, she did emphasize that the network was never out of control.
"This bears repeating: At no point did an external force take control of or shut down our network," Murphy said.
She said more updates will be provided as additional information becomes available.
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