‘Ransomware incident’ hits GBMC Health Care

Greater Baltimore Medical Center became the latest victim of a cyber attack Sunday, when it said a “ransomware incident” caused an outage of its information technology systems.

The hospital said many of its GBMC HealthCare’s systems are down but that it is able to continue patient care. However, it was forced to reschedule some procedures planned for Monday due to the problems.

Those who were affected were contacted, the hospital said.

“Although many of our systems are down, GBMC HealthCare has robust processes in place to maintain safe and effective patient care,” the hospital said in a news release. “We are collectively responding in accordance with our well-planned process and policies for this type of event.”

GBMC did not provide details about the extent of the outage or what might have caused it aside from describing it as a “ransomware incident.”

Baltimore County Public Schools also experienced a debilitating ransomware attack Thanksgiving week that forced it to cancel classes for several days. The school system said Monday that no personal information was stolen in the attack.

GBMC said there is no evidence that patient information was misused, and outside experts and law enforcement are involved in the investigation.

“Our investigation is in its early stages. We will provide more information as we can,” the hospital said. “Patient care is our number one priority, and we will continue to provide outstanding services to those that use our facilities.”