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BR General latest local victim of hackers

2 years 3 months 1 week ago Friday, July 01 2022 Jul 1, 2022 July 01, 2022 7:48 PM July 01, 2022 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge General Hospital is dealing with a disruption in their computer system after a hacker was able to breach their security.

The hospital can still take new patients, but ambulances will not be transporting them to that hospital.

Brad Harris, a spokesman for Baton Rouge EMS, says these problems have been going on for about two days.

"We received a word that the Baton Rouge General is on divert, so we are not transporting to those facilities," Harris said.

Baton Rouge General is not alone. A few days ago, the Louisiana Work Force Commissions webpage had to be taken down after it was hacked.

In recent weeks, the Zachary Police Department's Facebook page had a similar issue. A hacker posted sexually-explicit images and anti-police rhetoric.

They even got into the campaign Facebook page for Chief David McDavid, who is running for mayor.

Cybersecurity expert George Schiaffino says this is more common than people think. He says it frequently happens to larger companies with more money.

"The smaller office like mine, or a law firm, or a doctor's office is not a prime target. I'm going to spend more time going after the hospital that has deeper pockets," Schiaffino said.

He says if you get a suspicious email, verify what it is before opening it.

"Question it," Schiaffino said. "If you get an email from your bank, and you've never gotten an email from the bank before, question it. You can always call before you do it because people are just phishing."

WBRZ tried to call the hospital for more information, but they did not want to speak on camera. Officials report they are working to fix the problems as soon as possible. 

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