Tag Archive for: Operations
Hospitals hit by ransomware attack break down impact on operations, patients
For the first time, top leadership from the five hospitals in southwestern Ontario hit by a ransomware attack answered questions from the media — acknowledging the significant impact the incident has had on care, as well as the large amount of data that has been stolen.
During the roughly 50-minute meeting on Friday, each hospital CEO said their facility has been hard hit by the Oct. 23 attack, but that recovery is ongoing and they’re getting by with the hard work of staff. With systems down and hospitals unable to access critical information, thousands of patient appointments have been cancelled across the five hospitals, creating backlogs of varying lengths at some of the facilities.
Some of the institutions also said that they have started reaching out to the thousands of patients and staff whose information has been leaked onto the dark web. The hospitals are providing those impacted with a free credit monitoring service.
The hospital CEOs also stood behind IT provider TransForm, saying that they are “confident” the group is working hard to get systems back online, with a priority on clinical services.
“We apologize for this. And we apologize for the inconvenience this has had and the issues this has caused for the patients in our community,” said Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj.
“But I can tell you individually and collectively, our focus is on them and our focus is on our staff to regain that trust.”
Here are the latest updates each hospital shared.
Bluewater Health
Bluewater Health in Sarnia says without access to its systems, “there has been an impact on our families and patient experience.”
CEO Paula Reaume-Zimmer says urgent and emergency cases have been prioritized and as a result, their diagnostic imaging department has had to cancel more than 3,500 appointments, causing a “significant and growing backlog.”
She also says labs in the Sarnia and Petrolia regions are deferring walk-in, non-urgent cases to deal with emergent ones.
She says staff have been notifying patients of changes to their…
CDOT, CDPS and CSP celebrate opening of new, updated Eisenhower Johnson Memorial Tunnels Traffic Operations Center
Statewide – Coloradans have experienced its first taste of snow in October, officially marking the start of the winter driving season. This year, the Colorado Department of Transportation is adding more to its arsenal to help keep traffic moving and travelers safe, especially along the Interstate 70 Mountain Corridor, by opening a new, updated Operations Center at the Eisenhower Johnson Memorial Tunnels and maintenance garage bays.
“We are now approaching an almost $2 million hit to the economy for every hour the I-70 Mountain Corridor is closed,” said Shoshana Lew, CDOT’s Executive Director. “Not only do closures delay important deliveries and transportation of goods, it also has a real impact on the livelihood of our travelers, which cannot be summed up by a figure. It is important to CDOT to do everything we can to alleviate those impacts and ensure a quick clearance of incidents along the interstate, which is why we invested in updating our technology at the Operations Center and constructing a new maintenance facility at the Eisenhower Johnson Memorial Tunnels.”
While an Operations Center inside the Eisenhower Johnson Memorial Tunnels has already existed for decades, the technology within the Center needed to be updated to improve response times and safety. Upgrades include replacing decades-old copper wires, installing fiber optic cables, putting up new cameras and screens, all of which will increase the speed and quality of the Center’s monitors inside the new building. Quality is imperative as it helps CDOT’s Operators see if there is something in the road that needs to be cleared or get more details on an incident.
“The new cameras and monitors will allow us to zoom all the way into the roadway, up to two miles away from the tunnels, to detect even small debris such as nails,” said Lew. “This allows our crews to remove it from the roadway before it becomes a hazard to motorists. We are also able to zoom in on incidents to better document and report what is going on. We will be able to see how many passengers are in a vehicle, license plate numbers and more. This helps aid our first responders, including CDOT maintainers, as they respond to an incident…
PM Defensive Cyber Operations Transitions to Army’s PEO IEW&S; Brig. Gen. Ed Barker Quoted
The Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic, Warfare and Sensors is building up the U.S. Army’s cyber capabilities with the addition of Project Manager Defensive Cyber Operations.
With the transition, PEO IEW&S is integrating into its portfolio PM DCO’s two key programs: Cyber Platforms and Systems and Cyber Analytics and Detection, the service branch said Thursday.
CPS facilitates the procurement and delivery of cybersecurity tools and related platforms to the armed forces and CAD offers capabilities that enable warfighters to analyze and detect internal and external cyberthreats to the Army.
“The days of the Army being a Kinetic only force are gone. Our ability to operate in multiple domains has become paramount with none more important than mastering the cyber warfare arena,” said Brig. Gen. Ed Barker, PEO for IEW&S.