Cyber Incident Victim: Nebraska Medicine
Date:
Aug 2020
Location:
United States of America
Summary
A Nebraska healthcare provider experienced a cybersecurity attack that caused substantial IT system downtime, disrupting operations and forcing the postponement of numerous non-critical patient appointments and elective procedures. The organization activated contingency plans involving manual documentation processes to maintain scheduled critical care and emergency services while rescheduling less urgent cases. Law enforcement was notified, and patient care continued through alternative methods without diverting emergency cases.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 2 techniques |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
Nebraska Medicine experienced a significant information technology system downtime event beginning the week of August 24, 2020, later confirmed on September 25 to have resulted from a cybersecurity attack. The disruption caused operational challenges across the healthcare system, forcing the postponement of numerous patient appointments throughout the affected week. The organization prioritized critical appointments and surgeries essential to patient health and wellbeing, continuing to see those patients using standardized manual processes to record and transmit clinical information. Elective procedures and non-critical appointments were systematically rescheduled, with the institution issuing apologies for the inconvenience caused by these necessary adjustments. Nebraska Medicine maintained full emergency department operations without diverting any patients, ensuring uninterrupted access to urgent care services despite the widespread IT outage.
The healthcare provider immediately notified law enforcement agencies upon identifying the cyber attack and activated pre-established contingency plans designed for such IT system disruptions. These protocols included staff training components that facilitated the transition to alternative workflows during the outage. Clinical teams relied on manual documentation methods to sustain patient care delivery while IT systems remained inaccessible. The incident caused substantial scheduling disruptions across multiple days, reflecting the attack's impact on core operational systems. Nebraska Medicine's public statement emphasized their focus on maintaining critical healthcare services while working to restore normal operations, though the specific duration of full system recovery and technical details of the attack vector were not publicly disclosed. No patient data compromise was mentioned in the initial confirmation of the security event.