Patients who had appointments at Southern Ohio Medical Center (SOMC) facilities Thursday received notice that their appointments were canceled due to an emergency.
Rumors quickly started circulating that the hospital and its facilities we unable to access their computers or phone lines due to the computer system being down. It was later announced on the hospital’s social media platforms that the hospital’s computer servers had been hacked.
“This morning, an unauthorized third-party gained access to SOMC’s computer servers in what appears to be a targeted cyber attack,” SOMC posted. “We are working with federal law enforcement and internet security firms to investigate this incident.”
SOMC stated that patient care and safety remained their top priority as they worked to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
“We will continue to assess the situation and provide updates as they become available. We appreciate your patience and support,” SOMC stated.
Before the hack was announced, SOMC posted to social media that SOMC was experiencing an unplanned downtime of clinical systems.
“While this does not impact our ability to care for our current inpatients, some procedures may be rescheduled,” SOMC posted. “Those patients will be contacted directly. We are quickly working to resolve this issue. Thank you for your patience.”