The Guam Memorial Hospital confirms that a third party or different entity gained unauthorized access into the GMHA network.
According to a release from GMH, on March 2nd, GMH’s IT Department determined that unauthorized access had been made to their network.
The hospital then immediately contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Guam Homeland Security (GHS).
GMH says that although no unauthorized access was detected to the Patient Health Information and employee databases, the hospital shut down the network on March 4th as a precautionary measure.
According to the hospital, GMH’s IT department is working with GHS and the Government of Guam Office of Technology (OTEC) to restore and update GMH’s network and systems.
The hospital’s phone lines and email system, which were reportedly part of the initial shutdown are being restored. Reportedly, the hospital’s network and systems are expected to be fully restored soon.
GMH stated that the Governor was immediately told of the situation and had activated the full support of GovGuam’s resources to return the hospital network and systems to full operation as quickly as possible with enhanced cyber security.
The unauthorized access into GMH’s system was reportedly the reason for the hospital’s temporary suspension for visitors.