Ridgecrest Regional Hospital in California took systems offline after a cyber incident Monday, while its pharmacy reported an outage that halted processing of new prescriptions and refills.
The nonprofit hospital and health system is based in Ridgecrest, in northeastern Kern County’s Indian Wells Valley. It operates an acute care hospital and primary care and specialty clinics.
“RRH proactively took systems offline in order to investigate the matter,” the hospital said in a statement published by the Ridgecrest Daily Independent.
The hospital initially directed callers to an alternate number because calls could not be transferred internally. It later announced that departments and clinics could again be reached at their regular numbers.
An undated outage notice remained on the hospital’s website Tuesday. It was unclear whether it reflected current conditions after the phone-restoration announcement.
Center Professional Pharmacy, part of the hospital system, said an internet outage halted processing of new prescriptions and refills. Customers notified that their prescriptions were ready might still be able to collect them, but only cash payments were available. The pharmacy did not identify the outage’s cause.
In a Monday afternoon update, the pharmacy said its software and electronic payments were working again, but its phones remained down and staff were “WAY behind.” It gave no estimate for clearing the backlog.
Chip in once
If this reporting helped you, a one-time tip helps cover hosting, tools and future investigations.
Support us monthly
A small monthly pledge keeps independent coverage and our reader tools online for everyone.
ScarlettGroup listed the hospital’s rrh.org domain on its extortion site, claiming to possess patient, employee, payroll, clinical and financial records, according to screenshots reviewed by DysruptionHub.
The listing also displays apparent surveillance images and a countdown labeled “Negotiation Deadline.” Neither the claimed data access nor the images’ authenticity has been independently verified. The countdown does not establish that the hospital is negotiating.
ScarlettGroup threatens alleged victims with public disclosure of their data. Security researchers have documented those extortion tactics but have not established that the group uses file-encrypting malware.
The hospital has not attributed the incident to ScarlettGroup or confirmed ransomware or the theft of patient information.
In October, University Hospitals in Ohio took digital services offline after unusual server activity, interrupting patient-portal access. The system said care delivery was unaffected.
Ridgecrest has not said when all affected computer systems will return or detailed any interruption to inpatient or emergency care.
