Joshua Peguero and Julia Romero
14 hours ago
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A cybersecurity hack that impacted several Las Vegas valley hospitals may have comprised sensitive patient information.
The hospitals are part of the Valley Health System, and they are Centennial Hills, Desert Springs, Spring Valley, Summerlin, and Valley.
“So big question, how many people does it affect?” Chief Executive Officer for Tego Cyber, Shannon Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson runs the Las Vegas-based firm, which deals with cyber threats.
“There’s one thing that I recommend that everybody does, and that is if you are not actively trying to get a loan, or get credit cards, or buy a car. Lock your credit,” Wilkinson said.
The company that experienced the breach was ESO, a third-party vendor that provides software and other services to Valley Health’s emergency medical services.
One of the main concerns with the breach is the timeline of when ESO detected the hack and when the public was notified.
Valley Health System said in a statement, “Letters were mailed to potentially affected individuals beginning on December 12, 2023.”
ESO claims that it detected an incident around September 28, and then notified its “business associate” on October 27.
Wilkinson said these breaches can impact patient care if hospitals must shut down systems.
“There is a direct correlation sometimes between these cyberattacks, ransomware attacks on hospitals, and mortality at those hospitals. Meaning that hospitals see an increased death rate after a cyberattack like this,” Wilkinson said.
Valley Health System hasn’t said if this hack has disrupted their emergency care.
ESO added in its statement it has “taken all reasonable steps to prevent the data from being further published or distributed.”
Below is more information from ESO for any potential victims:
ESO has indicated that representatives are available to assist you with questions regarding this incident, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Please call ESO’s help line at (866) 347-8525 with any questions you may have. If you did not receive a letter, but would like to know if you were affected, please contact ESO’s help line.
