Security News > 2021 > July > Hospital Network Reveals Cause of 2020 Cyberattack
A cyberattack that crippled the computer systems of a hospital network affecting six hospitals in Vermont and New York last fall happened after an employee opened a personal email on a company laptop while on vacation, a University of Vermont Health Network official said Tuesday.
The email was from legitimate local business that had been hacked, Doug Gentile, network chief medical information officer told The Associated Press.
When the employee returned from vacation and logged onto the UVM network through a virtual private network, the attackers were ready and launched the attack, he said.
The October 2020 cyberattack caused significant, ongoing computer network problems for the University of Vermont Health Network, affecting its six hospitals in Vermont and New York, officials had said at the time.
UVM figured out how the cyberattack happened a week or so later by going through detailed logs, Gentile said.
At the time of the attack, UVM Health Network had blocked access to personal email for anyone who was on the network but had not yet extended that to the machines when they were off the corporate network, which it had planned to do this year, Gentile said.