Healthcare Provider Akumin Imaging Files for Bankruptcy Amidst Ransomware Attack
Date:
November 7, 2023
Florida-based Akumin Imaging announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amidst a "ransomware incident" that patients report has left them unable to schedule appointments.
Following the ransomware attack, Akumin alerted patients that they have "temporarily postponed most of our clinical and diagnostic operations until we can restore our systems in a safe and secure manner,” with no estimate for restoration of services.
"We have implemented a series of workarounds and manual processes for which our staff are well trained to support our patients and health partners and minimize disruptions in order to ensure continuity of care for patients,” a spokesperson from Akumin said in a statement.
“We are working closely with our business partners and third-party specialists to safely resume business activities. We have made substantial progress restoring certain operations, including all oncology services, since taking our systems offline, and have resumed treating some patients."
Takeaway: We are very fortunate that there have not been more tragic outcomes attributed to disruptions to care caused by the relentless onslaught of ransomware attacks against the healthcare sector.
Back in May, a ransomware attack against MCNA Dental Insurance exposed the personal information of nearly nine million patients in one of the largest breaches of health information ever reported.
Then in June, a ransomware attack on SMP Health forced the organization to cease operations and close the St. Margaret’s Health facility, and it was the only healthcare center for the local community.
And in October a ransomware attack on Prospect Medical Holdings shuttered emergency rooms, delayed procedures, downed billing systems and caused patients to be diverted to other providers, causing major disruptions to patient care.
Furthermore, a recent study found that ransomware attacks against the healthcare sector have cost the US economy of tens of billions of dollars with more than 500 reported attacks impacting nearly 10,000 healthcare facilities resulting in the exposure of over 52 million patient records.
Criminal ransomware groups know that the impact of an attack against healthcare organizations does not just disrupt operations, it directly impacts their ability to deliver life-saving services.
This puts tremendous pressure on the organization to pay the ransom demand or risk delays on care that put at risk.
Legacy security tools were simply not designed to address the unique threat that ransomware presents, and this is why we keep seeing disruptive ransomware attacks circumvent these traditional security solutions and impact healthcare organizations.
Unfortunately, given that healthcare providers are a favorite target of some of the most notorious ransomware operators, we are likely to see more regional healthcare providers suffer serious disruptions and even organizational failure following ransomware attacks.
Halcyon.ai is the industry’s first dedicated, adaptive security platform that combines multiple advanced proprietary prevention engines along with AI models focused specifically on stopping ransomware – talk to a Halcyon expert today to find out more. Halcyon also publishes a quarterly RaaS and extortion group reference guide, Power Rankings: Ransomware Malicious Quartile.
