Carilion cracks down on internet security after largest cyberattack in history

Hospital representatives say 'WannaCry' didn't affect system

ROANOKE, Va. – Some businesses in southwest Virginia are taking extra steps to protect their information after the biggest worldwide cyberattack in history hit on Friday.

"When you lose access to your data, in today's world, that could mean a pretty significant problem," said Rob Garbee, the founder of Roanoke Information Security Exchange.

It’s a problem currently affecting many businesses, including hospitals, after the ransomware known as “WannaCry” spread to hundreds of thousands of computers in 150 countries.

“We depend on the medical data that are stored in our primary care records," Garbee said.

Carilion representatives told WSLS 10 that there's no sign that the cyberattack affected their system, but as a precaution, they blocked all incoming emails throughout the entire network on Friday.

The email system is now back up and running.

Carilion's senior vice president and chief information officer Keith Perry, released the following statement, "Securing our data and our systems is critical to continuing patient care. Due to the quickly evolving nature of this threat, we decided to reduce our exposure by limiting ways the virus could access our system."

"When those files get locked, it makes it very difficult to provide patient care," Garbee said.

A local cyber expert said that if the ransomware did hit the hospital, the impact could be significant.

"In Europe, there were situations where patients were turned away," Garbee said.

To protect yourself, experts recommend keeping software up to date, backing up information and not clicking on links or downloading attachments in emails from people you don’t know.

“We need to make sure we're backing that data up and protecting that data so that if something were to happen, we don't have to pay that ransom; we can actually just restore from the previous backup," Garbee said.

WSLS 10 contacted  Carilion's IT department for more information on how it is protecting information. Representatives said they didn't have time to comment because they're still trying to make sure their systems are secure.


About the Author:

Jessica anchors 10 News on Saturdays and Sundays at 6 and 11 p.m. You can also catch her reporting during the week.