Mississippi health system shuts down clinics statewide after ransomware attack

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has closed all of its clinics in the state in response to a ransomware attack that impacted its phone and electronic systems, disrupting patient care.

The attack was launched on Thursday, compromising the medical center’s systems, including its electronic health records platform Epic and its IT network. It’s unclear how long the effects of the attack would last or whether patient information had been compromised.

UMMC vice chancellor for health affairs LouAnn Woodward said in a Friday statement that the university was working with law enforcement, including the FBI, to resolve the system outage. Out of an abundance of caution, she said, UMMC had taken all systems offline until they could test and confirm that they were safe to use.

Read more at NPR