If you work in technology or digital, there are projects that are “mission critical” or “do or die.” Many of our projects rate that description because our clients are asking us to help them implement a digital experience or customer experience with enterprise-wide impact. These projects are critical to the sponsors and the business, but lives are not at stake.
This story, which is developing, drives home how dependent society and businesses are when it comes to technology. It also shows that hackers have become even bolder in their attacks. According to the local NBC station in LA, hackers are holding a hospital systems hostage. The CEO of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has stated that the FBI and local law enforcement are investigating. The hospital in some cases have been force back to paper and lab results are not being electronically delivered to the hospital. The hackers are said to be demanding 9,000 bitcoins worth $3.55 million.
This story reminds me of a project a number of years ago before I joined Perficient. A hospital was performing a major upgrade to the platform running their EMR (Electronic Medical Records) system. I was there to support an application and everyone on the team knew what was riding on our planning and execution. I am happy to say that the project completed successfully and all systems came back online as scheduled.
This story is a reminder of how critical security is and the real impact any breach can have. I hope Hollywood regains control of their systems soon. This story is a reminder of why all of us work so hard on security.
Sometimes Lives Are at Stake
by David Price on February 15th, 2016 | ~ minute read
