Upstate Medical University Hospital Network Outage Investigation

The data breach attorneys at The Lyon Firm are reviewing new instances of cybersecurity intrusions and data breaches for plaintiffs in New York and nationwide. Following any cyberattack on a healthcare entity, it is prudent to begin to take certain measures to protect any personal information that may have been collected and stored at the targeted hospital. Contact our class action attorneys to discuss possible legal action if a data theft results from negligent IT security.

What Happened at Upstate Medical University?

More details may emerge in the coming weeks, but we do know there was a network outage at the Syracuse, New York-based Upstate Medical University. The hospital network was forced to divert some emergency room patients, cancel appointments and suspend visitations. It is unclear what caused the outage, but since hospitals are frequently targeted by hackers and ransomware attacks, it is possible that a data security incident may have occurred.

The hospital is denying that a cyberattack occurred. The hospital alerted patients with Facebook updates and told reporters at Becker’s Hospital Review that, “Upstate and its vendors are looking into the root cause, but the issues were technical in nature and not related to cybersecurity.”

The recent phone and internet disruptions on April 8 led the health system to cancel services at Upstate University Hospital, Upstate Community Hospital and all ambulatory locations.

The Lyon Firm will continue to monitor any further IT disruptions and any pertinent information that comes forth.