ABC17 reports:
A data breach has impacted Yale New Haven Health.
On Friday, the healthcare system announced that Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven is among many hospitals nationwide that were impacted by software issues at Elekta.
Elekta is the company that provides the software to run linear accelerators for radiation treatment of cancer patients, according to the healthcare system.
The issues have been taking place since April 20 and Yale New Haven Health expects the problems to be solved by Monday, April 26.
Read more on ABC17.
Earlier reports had explained that Elekta was the victim of a ransomware/malware attack on April 6 that interfered with radiation treatment at a number of hospitals. While current reports mention Smilow Cancer Hospital, the earlier reports noted that the attack resulted in the rescheduling of radiation treatements for at least 50 patients at Southcoast Health’s cancer centers in Fall River and Fairhaven and an unknown number of patients at Rhode Island Hospital and the Lifespan Cancer Institute in East Greenwich.
It is not clear from the latest coverage whether, or how, the attack on April 6 is linked to software problems that emerged on April 20. DataBreaches.net reached out to Elekta to request an explanation and received the following statement:
On April 20, Elekta proactively took our first-generation cloud system down in response to a security threat that needs to be fully contained. This is a temporary shutdown in order to assure full restoration and to protect our customers from potential damage.
Approximately 170 customers using our first-generation cloud system in the U.S. are experiencing service disruptions to one or more of their products.
Less than a quarter of these sites were impacted in regard to their ability to treat patients. There is no indication that other Elekta servers, services, or products outside this first-generation cloud system have been affected. Our goal is for all of our affected customers to be back online by early next week.
The FBI and other appropriate agencies are investigating the attacks but given the ongoing nature of the crime the details that we can share are limited.
Post updated at 9:25 am to include statement from Elekta.