By Duane Morris partner Lisa W. Clark
On March 28 MedStar Health, the largest health system in the Washington, D.C. area, shut down its computer systems, including its electronic health records, on account of an apparent “ransom” attack in which the hackers infected its system with a virus. From media reports, it appears that the hackers demanded an unknown sum to stop the malware attack. The FBI is already involved. This incident, following February’s successful ransom attack on Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, reinforces the need for strong data security protection as well, as an incident response plan that includes law enforcement.