RALEIGH – Allscripts, a provider of physician management and electronic medical records services, says it has restored all services after a ransomware attack which started last week.
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“We are pleased to announce that service to all affected clients has been restored,” company spokesperson Concetta Rasiarmos said early Friday afternoon.
The company, which has a major presence in the Triangle, also has been hit by a lawsuit by a customer why says “failing to secure its systems and data from cyberattacks, including ransomware attacks. Accordingly, on January 18, 2018, Allscripts did suffer a ransomware attack, which prevented Allscripts’ clients from conducting their routine and ordinary business.”
The suit accuses Allscripts of “wanton, willful, and reckless disregard.”
One Triangle practice that was hit hard by the outage is back online today.
Ransomware is malware that prevents victims from accessing computers or data until a ransom is paid. It’s a growing threat, too. According to Newsweek, ransomware attacks increased 250 percent last year with the U.S. hit hardest. Cybersecurity experts have described the attacks as an “epidemic.”
Medical news website FierceHealthcare says numerous firms have reported loss of income and disruptions in patient services because of the Allscripts attack.
NC complaints
Allscripts says some 1,500 customers have been affected.
WRAL.com and WRAL TechWire as well as WRAL TV have been contacted by people via phone and email who have complained about the attack that has limited customer access to information.
“This has shut our medical office down for two days,” one person wrote. “I think this [earlier] article[at WRAL.com] minimizes the effect on patient care here!!! We have not been able to schedule patients or call patients. If we solely relied on EMR we would be completely down. Nothing better than paper chart here today!!!!”
The company says it is fighting to restore service.
“We recognize this has been disruptive for our clients and are working around the clock to safely and securely return service to all affected clients,” Allscripts’ Rasiarmos told WRAL TechWire earlier Friday.
“Service to the majority of our impacted clients has now been restored, and we continue to work with the remaining clients to bring them back on line as quickly as possible.”
Florida-based Surfside Non-Surgical Orthopedics filed the lawsuit on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Allscripts’ chief privacy and security counsel said most services were expected to be available by week’s end.
Affected services
According to FierceHealthcare, the attack “took down Allscripts’ billing and claims management applications, leaving practices wondering how they’ll manage the financial repercussions.”
Rasiarmos, the Allscripts spokesperson, said the company is seeking help from the FBI.
“Upon discovering the ransomware attack, we immediately notified the FBI and have been providing information to assist with their investigation,” she explained.
“While access to a subset of our products was disrupted for roughly 1,500 of our clients, there is no evidence that any data was removed from our systems.”
