FBI investigating MedStar computer virus

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a computer virus that shut down MedStar Health Inc. on Monday.

MedStar, which has ten hospitals in the Washington, D.C. area and Maryland including MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, have remained open and functioning, but without its electronic records systems.

The virus on Monday struck the system and prevented some users from logging in, officials said. "MedStar acted quickly with a decision to take down all system interfaces to prevent the virus from spreading throughout the organization," the system said in a statement released on Twitter. "We are working with our IT and Cyber-security partners to fully assess and address the situation."

MedStar officials said there was no evidence that any information has been compromised. "The organization has moved to back-up systems paper transactions where necessary," it said.

The incident that hit MedStar is just the latest against U.S. hospitals. Last month, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid $17,000 to regain use of its computer system. Hackers had used ransomware delivered via an infected email attachment to take over the system.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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