I had a Cardiologist appointment last week, but they called to cancel it the day prior. The reason they gave was, “our system is still down”. They said they would call me when they could reschedule. No explanation of why their system was down, whether it was only this doctor or the entire Scripps system. Since I do not live in San Diego, and I do not pay attention to the news, I was completely clueless about what was going on. So, I’ve done a little investigating. On May 1st, Scripps received a cyber attack which appears to involve ransomeware. They are still not back in service, having only recovered a few functions. When I worked in IT (back then called Data Processing, and ultimately Information Systems), I mostly worked for banks. Because it was in California, we had a contingency plan, that we tested yearly, to recover the entire system within 72 hours. The risk of an earthquake large enough to destroy an entire data processing center is real. EVERYTHING was backed up on portable media (at that time, magnetic tape) on a daily basis, so that no more than one day’s data could ever be lost. Before I lived in California, I worked at a data center in Michigan, for an AT&T operating company. That data center was also recoverable in a matter of a few days. I do not understand why health care, and every other business, is not practicing the same caution. Fortunately, my appointment was for a routine yearly visit and it doesn’t matter if it is delayed a few weeks or even months. But why does health care, a HIGHLY profitable business, not take precautions? I have been out of the information technology business for a long time, but I can see the mistakes being made. Being prepared for a catastrophe, whether man-made or not, is important.
[sandiegouniontribune.com]