Lurie Children’s Hospital is currently dealing with a network outage caused by a cybersecurity issue, leading to disruptions in phones, email services, internet connectivity, and even medical equipment. The hospital is actively investigating the matter with the assistance of cybersecurity experts and law enforcement. As a part of their response, network systems have been taken offline. The incident has resulted in the cancellation of certain elective surgeries and procedures, impacting patient care. Lurie Children’s has established a call center to manage non-urgent patient needs, address care-related queries, and provide information about scheduled appointments. Cybersecurity experts emphasize the increasing threat of cyberattacks on hospitals, underlining the importance of robust protection measures. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi notes the diverse range of cyber threats from countries like North Korea, Iran, China, and Russia. The recovery process involves tasks such as system restoration and addressing vulnerabilities in affected systems. Experts highlight the critical need to secure email systems, often exploited by hackers.
