CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Lurie Children’s Hospital, for a fourth day, continues to deal with a cyber attack impacting phone, email and internet service.
This attack has had a wide-ranging impact on the main hospital and outpatient centers.
Appointments and procedures have been cancelled. Medical records have become inaccessible and some equipment has become unusable.
Lurie said in a statement that it “is actively responding to a cybersecurity matter. We are taking this very seriously, are investigating with the support of leading experts, and are working in collaboration with law enforcement agencies.”
Despite all the setbacks, Lurie is open and providing care to patients "with as few disruptions as possible." The hospital also said it is prepared with contingency plans to continue providing care to patients during system outages and have been operating in downtime procedures.
Lurie is still accepting patients at this time and still providing emergency care, inpatient care, surgical procedures and ambulatory visits.
Robin Berthier, CEO of the cyber security firm Network Perception, told CBS 2 this looks like a ransomware attack.
"Those are targets of opportunities. They are done for financial gain," he said. "We've seen a rise of the volume and sophistication of those attacks."
Lurie has established a call center for:
•Non-urgent patient requests and care questions
•Information regarding scheduled patient appointments
•Patient prescription refill requests
The call center number is 1-800-543-7362 and it is open The call center is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m. to noon Sunday.
Lurie's main location is at 225 East Chicago Avenue in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood.
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