Updated Oct. 27: Added BYOD’s statement offering a free hospital-only decryption key while claiming it would retain stolen data. The claims remain unverified.
A cyberattack forced the University of New Mexico Health System to divert ambulances and cancel clinic appointments Monday, interrupting care at the state’s only Level I trauma center.
The Albuquerque-based academic health system canceled appointments at more than 30 clinics across New Mexico. Patients were told not to come to its facilities for scheduled care.
During Monday’s disruption, the health system told patients not to seek scheduled care and directed emergencies to emergency services in its public advisory.
UNM later said both its hospitals were open and clinics would resume regularly scheduled appointments and procedures Tuesday, Oct. 27. Health Sciences classes remained canceled Tuesday, and nonessential employees were asked to stay home.
Source New Mexico reported that an internal alert described a network security breach and instructed users to shut down and unplug desktop computers and disconnect mobile devices from hospital Wi-Fi.
“The cybersecurity threat is affecting the entire University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center,” the university said. It dismissed students and nonessential employees for the rest of Monday, while clinical and essential staff were exempt.
Both in-person and virtual classes were canceled in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and population health, the Albuquerque Journal reported. A university spokesperson told the newspaper that other parts of campus did not appear affected.
Separately, a BYOD claim indexed by ransomware.live alleged compromise of 36,000 machines, university and hospital networks, and sensitive student, employee, research and patient information.
In a statement dated Oct. 27, BYOD offered what it described as a free decryption key for hospital devices:
We are offering the decryption key for the remaining of locked devices for free (ONLY for the hospital sector) we did not know that it was running machines related to assisting patients in real-time, (we would keep it locked if it was appointments, patient information + research data only), we are still going to keep the data, but we will provide the decryption key for the hospital sector only.
The group also offered affected patients up to $2,500 each upon proof of impact.
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UNM has not corroborated BYOD’s allegations or identified the group as responsible. The statement does not establish that UNM received a working key, that decryption restored any systems or that the group possesses authentic patient information.
University Hospitals in Ohio took digital services offline last week after unusual server activity, interrupting MyChart access and limiting its website. That system said Friday that patient care was unaffected, a narrower reported consequence than UNM’s ambulance diversions and canceled visits.
The university has not confirmed complete technical restoration or disclosed whether patient information was accessed.
