Universal Health Services, which operates about 400 facilities, was targeted with a cyberattack over the weekend that has triggered a multiday IT outage. Universal Health Services, a Pennsylvania-based health system that operates about 400 facilities throughout the country and overseas, was hit with a cyberattack early Sunday.

Computer systems for UHS began to fail over the weekend, with some hospitals forced to return to documenting patient information with pen and paper, according to reporting by NBC News, which called it “potentially [the] largest in U.S. history.”

UHS posted a statement on Monday morning confirming that the IT network across its facilities was down. 

Article Link – https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/uhs-hospital-chain-hit-massive-ransomware-attack

Discussion Questions:

1. Identify three key takeaways from the article. What did you find most interesting?
2. What caused the shutdown to UHS IT systems? What is the impact of this shutdown?
3. How could this ransomware attack have been prevented?

Source: Kat Jercich, “UHS hospital chain hit with ransomware attack”, www.healthcareitnews.com, September 29, 2020.