Cybersecurity incident forces UNM Health, in New Mexico, to divert ambulances

The University of New Mexico health system (UNM Health), in Albuquerque (United States), reported on Monday 26 October “a cybersecurity issue” affecting its entire Health Sciences Center. According to its statement, all ambulance traffic was diverted to other hospitals, all appointments at its clinics that day were cancelled and the public was asked to call 911 in an emergency and to postpone anything that was not urgent.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, citing a hospital statement, outpatient appointments and surgeries were cancelled at more than 30 clinics, admission of new patients was limited between 12:30 and 14:30 local time and, at around 14:30, systems began to be restored in phases. IT staff notified state and federal authorities.

AP, cited by SecurityWeek, notes that UNM Health runs the state's only level 1 trauma centre and, according to its website, handles some 900,000 outpatient visits and 100,000 emergency department visits a year. An FBI spokeswoman in Albuquerque said the agency is “assisting our partner”. UNM Health said that, as this is an ongoing law enforcement investigation, the information it can share is limited.

Several employees told AP that messages appeared on their computers claiming to have stolen data on students, employees and patients; UNM has not confirmed this. Classes and research activity on the Health Sciences campus are suspended this Tuesday, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

It is not known what type of attack it was, who is behind it, whether data was stolen or when service will return to normal.