CHICAGO — Officials at Lurie Children’s Hospital provided an update Thursday on the network outage that has impacted the hospital for nine days.
During a press conference, Chief Medical Officer Marcelo Malakooti confirmed that their network "was accessed by a known criminal threat actor."
"We take this matter very seriously and have been working closely around the clock with outside and internal experts — and in collaberation with law enforcement, including the FBI," Malakooti said.
The chief medical officer said that based on suspicious activity on Wednesday, Jan. 31., the hospital took their systems offline.
"We did this in an effort to protect the information of our patients, workforce and organization at large," Malakooti said.
Hospital officials said they have implemented emergency preparedness plans, including downtime procedures throughout the organization.
"Throughout this period, all Lurie Children’s locations have remained open, accepting and caring for patients with as few disruptions as possible. The diligence and dedication of the staff is unwavering. It is their care and talent that people seek and that remains unchanged," said Brian Stahulak, Chief Clinical Officer at Lurie's.
Officials said the hospital has established a call center to answer any patient-family questions or concerns. Visit luriechildrens.org for the call center’s phone number, hours and latest updates.
This is an active and ongoing investigation.