Harris County medical facility targeted by suspected ransomware attack
HOUSTON - The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD says they experienced what is being called a suspected ransomware attack on Tuesday.
According to a release, this past Tuesday, the location experienced what appeared to be a ransomware attack that resulted in the encryption of some employee working files, making them inaccessible to the employees.
The statement said the Harris center preemptively shut down their network to prevent the spread of the attack, and officials said they are continuing to work on the analysis to determine if any data has been compromised.
Officials said the practical impact of the preemptive steps is that Harris Center staff have faced limited access to files and that there have been some delays to patient care.
The Harris Center said it is taking all possible steps to continue to provide patient care uninterrupted.
SUGGESTED: Houston Mayoral battle underway between Whitmire, Jackson Lee
The Harris Center is actively working with their teams, as well as third-party security response specialists to investigate and restore full functionality.
The incident has been reported to law enforcement.
At the advice of their cybersecurity experts, the Harris Center is unable to provide additional information at this time, but they said they will keep the community informed of further impacts.
Officials added, "We take Harris County’s cybersecurity extremely seriously. The Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management and Harris County Information Technology continue to work with the Harris Center to manage this incident."