ST. CROIX — The Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital and Medical Center has activated its Incident Command Post and continues providing patient care after a data discovery incident the Information Technology Department found Saturday morning wiped out the hospital’s internet and internal network, according to the hospital spokesperson.
“Our inpatient/outpatient services are still operational, so patient care is still happening,” Aniah John, JFL public information officer, said Monday. “However, all our networks are down, so internet or anything that goes on the network is currently down. So, we’ve activated our Incident Command Post to be able to streamline any issues our team may be having while providing patient care or doing their daily day-to-day task.”
The hospital is not disclosing specific mitigation actions or whether the incident was a “ransomware” attack as suggested by Governor Albert Bryan Jr. during today’s weekly Government House press briefing, as the investigation is ongoing.
When asked about the governor’s comment, John pointed out that Schneider Regional Medical Center was the victim of multiple ransomware attacks last year.
“We’re just doing the necessary steps to ensure that that’s not the same for us,” she said, clarifying JFL does not yet have the full details.
John was unable to say whether there was any request for money.
“We cannot disclose any information as part of the investigation happening by our internal team,” she said.
SRMC implemented enhancements following a ransomware attack in July 2024 that allowed the hospital to quickly recognize a second cyberattack that occurred December 1, 2024 before it spread through the entire system.
READ MORE: “Schneider Regional hit with its second ransomware attack for the year; FBI investigating source”
JFL informed the community about the data security incident in a post on its Facebook page Sunday night, announcing the hospital remains deeply committed to maintaining the privacy and security of all entrusted personal information and has taken significant precautions to safeguard the data. The hospital’s public statement indicated an immediate effort to mitigate any associated risks, but John was unable to discuss the steps being taken.
“This is something that I can’t disclose at this point,” she said. “Once we do have all the information necessary, then we’ll be able to put out more information to the public.”
As JFL investigates the cyberattack on the hospital, the Virgin Islands Lottery is scheduled to reopen at 8 a.m. Tuesday after ceasing all operations for six weeks to restore critical information following a cyberattack that severely impacted its information technology systems. The VI Lottery held its draw today for draw No. 1047. Ticket sales for draw No. 1048 will begin when the offices reopen Tuesday.
Fly the Whale’s reservation system was also the recent victim of a cyberattack, resulting in a two-week outage due to an attack against one of the desktop computers utilized by the London-based company the airline uses for its reservations.
READ MORE: “Fly the Whale reservation system back online after malware attack on London-based server”
On April 22, Fly the Whale turned its reservation system back on after rebuilding its database.
