
Gabrielle Lewis – The Frederick News-Post, Md.
Frederick Health Hospital’s systems were taken offline Monday due to a ransomware attack, and ambulances were being diverted to take patients to other emergency departments.
Frederick Health’s facilities were still open and providing care to patients with some delays, according to a statement from the organization.
Early Monday, the hospital had a “mini disaster” designation, which could be due to situations like a gas leak, fire, power outage or bomb scare, according to the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems’ county and hospital alert tracking system.
“The emergency department reports that their facility has, in effect, suspended operation and can receive absolutely no patients …,” according to a description on the tracking system.
As of Monday night, the hospital was still on both red and yellow alert, according to the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems chart.
Red alert means there were no available beds for adult in-patient critical care. Yellow alert means the emergency has requested that it not receive new patients who need urgent medical care.
Frederick Health took its systems offline proactively after identifying a ransomware event, according to a statement from Frederick Health spokesperson Josh Faust.
The organization said it is “working closely with our third-party cybersecurity experts to bring our systems back online as quickly and safely as possible,” the statement said.
Faust said the hospital would still accept patients who are physically present in its emergency department.
He could not comment on if any data was compromised on Monday afternoon.
Frederick County spokesperson Vivian Laxton said Monday the county was notified that there was some sort of interference with Frederick Health’s communications system.
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