“Upon learning of this, we took our systems offline to protect them and launched an investigation,” the assertion mentioned. “This incident is a firm reminder that cybersecurity threats pose a real risk for health-care organizations across the nation. Prospect Medical Holdings is not the first health system that has been targeted by bad actors and, unfortunately, it will not be the last. We are working with investigators and law enforcement agencies to address this urgent situation.”

Eastern Connecticut Health Network, which is inside the Prospect system, mentioned it was “experiencing IT complications” on its web site as of Saturday night, shuttering its outpatient medical imaging and outpatient blood draw providers, amongst others. Emergency rooms for 2 hospitals within the community diverted sufferers Thursday, the Hartford Courant reported.

CharterCARE Health Partners in Rhode Island wrote on Facebook on Thursday that its “computer systems are down and temporarily affecting inpatient and outpatient operations.” It added its employees was “following downtime procedures, including the use of paper records, until this is resolved.”

On Saturday, Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut mentioned on Facebook that the incident “is affecting all Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. affiliates.” It added that “a few of its outpatient services” weren’t obtainable Friday and Saturday, together with outpatient blood draw and diagnostic imaging providers. The hospital beforehand posted that it additionally relied on paper data for components of this week on account of the attack.

Systems have been additionally down Thursday in Pennsylvania-based Crozer Health, which skilled the same attack in 2020, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Ransomware assaults, together with on medical techniques, have change into more and more frequent as they digitize affected person data and improve to cloud-based servers. Hackers deploy them to dam a corporation’s entry to its personal laptop community and to extort a ransom from it.

“While our investigation continues,” Prospect Medical Holdings’s assertion reads, “we are focused on addressing the pressing needs of our patients as we work diligently to return to normal operations as quickly as possible.”