Minidoka Memorial Hospital in Rupert, Idaho, said a cyber incident on Easter morning, April 5, limited imaging services and led to some emergency patient transfers, though the hospital and its clinics continued treating patients.
In an April 17 social media update, the hospital said the incident temporarily affected certain internal systems and had not prevented it from safely treating patients.
The hospital said full imaging access was restored by midnight April 19 and that patients with upcoming appointments or procedures should proceed as scheduled unless contacted otherwise. It also said it was working with cybersecurity experts and authorities to investigate and resolve the incident.
Some social media users responded with frustration that they were learning of the incident roughly two weeks after it occurred. The hospital did not say why it waited until April 17 to announce the incident publicly.
Minidoka did not say which systems were taken offline, whether ransomware or other malware was involved, or whether any patient or employee data was accessed. It described the event only as a “cyber incident.”
The hospital also did not say who may have been responsible, and no group has publicly claimed responsibility. DysruptionHub did not receive a response to an emailed request for comment.
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Over that same Easter weekend, Gritman Medical Center in Moscow said a cybersecurity incident temporarily forced the closure of multiple clinics and offices. The hospital later said operations resumed and outside investigators found no compromise of patient or secure data and no successful malware deployment.
Minidoka Memorial is a county-owned critical access hospital in Rupert and Minidoka County’s only hospital and nursing home, according to its website. The hospital says it employs more than 250 people, and OCHIN said in 2023 that it serves about 50,000 residents in southern Idaho.
The hospital has not said whether it will provide additional updates on the cause of the incident or whether any review found evidence of data exposure.
