Parts of Florida Health still offline after cyber breach

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A recent cyberattack continues to plague Florida’s health department, even as state authorities say they are working to track down those responsible following the breach.

News of the Florida Health data hack broke earlier this month. Since then, the department has been working to lock down its systems, while the hacking group behind it says it has released tens of thousands of patient records online.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Florida Health’s online Vital Statistics system was still in what it called a “temporary outage.” It manages birth and death certificates, plus much more. It was shut down this month after what the department called an attack “perpetrated by a criminal hacking organization.”

That group — RansomHub — said it had grabbed 100 gigabytes of Florida Health data and held it hostage, seeking a large payout. RansomHub later said it released the files online, allegedly compromising thousands of dollars in patient data.

In a recent statement, Florida Health officials said that “all affected parties will be notified once a comprehensive assessment of the situation is completed.” Also, “certain systems have been proactively taken offline to enhance security measures and increase monitoring.”

That’s likely true of Vital Statistics, which has hampered the operations of funeral homes in Florida, some of whom spoke to ABC Action News earlier this month. Funeral directors said it’s created a backlog of work because they have to manually certify death certificates. What used to take 7-10 days now takes 14-21 days in some places.

Meanwhile, Florida Health said most of the department’s operations are still operational. Officials said they “remain engaged in efforts to protect data as the scale and scope of this attack is fully understood.” That’s while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates.

In a statement Tuesday, FDLE said: “Healthcare facilities around the world are facing this type of ongoing cyber threat and FDLE agents are investigating the incident expeditiously and diligently to ensure that the criminals responsible are held accountable. Our investigation is active.”