Cyberattack Confirmed in Watsonville, California, Hospital Network Outage
Watsonville Community Hospital in Watsonville, California, has confirmed that a cyberattack caused the network outage that began on November 29, 2024. Officials initially described the incident as an IT outage of unknown origin. However, on December 6, 2024, they disclosed that the outage resulted from a cyberattack. The disruption affected key electronic systems for patient charts and prescription notifications, necessitating a shift to manual paper-based processes. Despite these challenges, emergency, inpatient, and outpatient services remained operational.
Dysruption Hub, which has been monitoring the outage since it began, refrained from speculating about a cyberattack until the hospital's confirmation. It is unclear whether the hospital initially recognized the nature of the incident or if the attack's details only emerged later during the investigation. Third-party cybersecurity experts are assessing potential data breaches and addressing long-standing IT vulnerabilities tied to the hospital's previous ownership. Recovery efforts are ongoing, but a timeline for restoring full network functionality has not yet been provided.