MedStar reports its computer network was hit by a cyberattack
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) — MedStar, the agency that provides emergency medical services for much of Tarrant County, reported this afternoon that they had detected a cyberattack on their computer network.
A spokesperson for the agency said that on the morning of Oct. 20, 2022, they had detected an "active attack" targeting their network and were working to quarantine the threat.
MedStar stores its data remotely, using secure servers that are backed up.
The agency said that so far, they only systems they have determined were affected are the 911 computer-aided dispatch and patient care reporting systems. Those systems have been isolated from the rest of the network and MedStar will use manual and radio dispatching until they are fully secured.
Medical services and hospitals have recently become common targets of cybercriminals looking to extort money or steal data.
Earlier this year, McKinney Methodist Hospital and two nearby surgery centers were hacked by a notorious Russian group. The hackers later bragged on the dark web that they had managed to steal several hundreds of gigabytes of data.
MedStar did not elaborate on the possible identity of the hackers who attacked their network, nor on how they were able to gain access to it. As of Thursday afternoon, there was no evidence that patient or 911 records had been breached.
The agency hopes to return to computer-aided dispatching soon.