The hospitals, part of the Valley Health System, include Centennial Hills, Desert Springs, Spring Valley, Summerlin, and Valley.
“So big question, how many people does it affect?” says Shannon Wilkinson, Chief Executive Officer for Tego Cyber.
Wilkinson runs a firm based in Las Vegas, that deals with cyber threats, he adds, “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.”
ESO, the company that suffered the data breach, is a third-party vendor that supplies software and other services to Valley Health's emergency medical services. One of the major concerns in regards to the breach is the timeline of when ESO detected the breach and when this news reached the online audience and the ones affected.
With respect to the issue, Valley Health System stated, “Letters were mailed to potentially affected individuals beginning on December 12, 2023.”
ESO notes that the firm detected the incident around September 28, following which they notified their “business associate” of the issue on October 27.
Wilkinson stated that if hospitals have to shut down systems, these breaches may have an impact on patient care.
He notes that there is a direct link between hospital mortality and ransomware attacks, which target cyberspace, indicating that following a cyberattack like this, hospitals witness a rise in the death rate. However, Valley Health System confirms that the breach has not affected its emergency care.
ESO further notes that it has taken all measures to prevent the data from getting leaked further. Moreover, ESO shared details of the measures that the victims of their data breach can take.
ESO informs that the affected individual can contact its helpline between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. The company has urged the data breach victims to call ESO’s helpline at (866) 347-8525 with their queries, or even to confirm if they were affected.