BREWER, Maine — Northern Light Health patient records were expected to be back online Monday, two days after the health system discovered multiple computer servers had been compromised in an apparent cyberattack, a spokesperson said. said.
Northern Light Health said that while there were no patient records on the affected servers, the network went into a “downtime procedure” out of an abundance of caution while the company investigated the situation, shutting down hospital operations to paper. He said that he has started work on switching to .
“We have discovered an anomaly in our system,” Northern Light Health Senior Vice President Suzanne Spruce said Saturday. “We looked at that and decided to take the server down out of an abundance of caution.”
The next day, Spruce announced that a review had been completed to confirm the server's functionality. While the servers were being restored, the investigation into why the servers were compromised continued.
This weekend's ordeal at Northern Light Health comes as concerns grow nationwide about the threat posed by internet hackers.
While the medical system was dealing with threats to its networks, Air Force Lt. Gen. Mark Sasville, vice chairman of the National Guard Bureau, was discussing defensive tactics against cyber threats with military personnel at Bangor Air National Guard Base in Maine.
“People are understandably very concerned about cyber defense,” Sasseville said. “I think the country has some work to do to protect critical infrastructure at the local and state level.”
This task is especially important for health systems like Northern Light Health. According to the FBI's 2022 Annual Internet Crime Report, hospitals and public health organizations report more ransomware cases to the FBI than any other critical infrastructure sector.
The origins of the threat to Aurora are unclear, but FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before a Congressional committee last week, warning that Chinese hackers are “campaigning America's infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc.”
NEWS CENTER MAINE reached out to Optum, the company responsible for Northern Light Health's IT services, to learn more about its strategy to combat cyber threats, but did not receive a response.
