Brooklyn hospital network hacked

New York state health officials have acknowledged that a network of Brooklyn hospitals whose computer systems crashed last month – causing havoc for patients and staff – had suffered a cyberattack.

“The New York State Health Department is aware of an incident and is working with One Brooklyn Network to ensure patient safety,” the New York State Health Department spokesperson said Monday evening. State, Jeffrey Hammond.

“As there is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further.”

One Brooklyn Health oversees Brookdale, Interfaith, and Kingsbrook Jewish Hospitals — so-called “safety net” facilities because they serve the city’s poorest and most needy patients and receive tens of millions of dollars in government grants. State.

The network’s board of directors is chaired by billionaire Alexander Rovt, a mega-donor to Governor Kathy Hochul.

Meanwhile, One Brooklyn Health CEO Laray Brown also sent a recent memo to medical staff confirming that the database crash that impacted access to patient records was the result of cybersecurity mischief.

“Our ongoing investigation has thus far confirmed that the network disruption was the result of a cybersecurity incident,” Brown said.

She said she made referrals to law enforcement agencies to investigate the alleged hacking crime.

“We are in contact with relevant federal, state and local agencies and regulators regarding this incident,” Brown said.

The admission by state regulators came after former Brooklyn councilman and mayoral candidate Sal Albanese and medical attorney James Schiffer publicly claimed the hospital system had been hacked and subjected to cyber-security. $5 million ransom from hackers to fix the mess.

“Incredible, One Brooklyn Hospital System (composed of the merger of 3 hospitals) has been hacked and the criminals are demanding a ransom of 5 million. Meanwhile, these vital facilities work with pen and paper as they will not pay ransom. This according to a staff member, ” Albanese said in a tweet.

Schiffer, an attorney and licensed pharmacist with ties to One Brooklyn Health, told the Post, “They got hacked. They are afraid to broadcast it because they are afraid that people will not go to the hospital.

Schiffer, a partner at Allegaert Berger & Vogel, said One Brooklyn Health was trying to recreate its hospital database systems instead of paying a ransom.

Brown told staff that 250 computers and 775 mobile devices and laptops have been distributed to hospitals to bypass data systems that have been offline since Nov. 17.

The health big boss said some services had been restored.

“I can’t promise a timeline for when all of our systems will be up and running again,” Brown said.

She emphasized that “our facilities remain open and we continue to provide care to our patients using well-established downtime processes.”