Ransomware attacks on US hospitals put patients at risk

Ransomware attacks have forced some hospitals to disrupt chemotherapy, delay reporting lab results and postpone appointments for maternity patients. Some have had to divert ambulances because their emergency rooms couldn’t accept new patients. — Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash

A University of Vermont Medical Centre employee accidentally opened an emailed file from her homeowners association, which had been hacked, in October 2020.

That one mistake eventually led to the University of Vermont Health Network, which includes the state’s largest hospital in Burlington, having to cancel surgeries, put off mammogram appointments and delay some cancer patients’ treatments.