Tennessee clinic closes following a cyberattack

Updated on: 15 November 2023

Jurgita Lapienytė
Chief Editor

Clinic closed due to cyberattack — By Cybernews

Murfreesboro Medical Clinic & SurgiCenter (MMC) has temporarily closed its doors to patients following what it called a “sophisticated criminal cyberattack.”

It said it had experienced the attack on April 22. Serving the town of Murfreesboro with a population of over 150,000, the clinic operates in seven locations in Middle Tennessee and has over 80 physicians.

“In response, we rapidly initiated an emergency shutdown of our network to limit the spread of the attack within our systems and those of our technology partners,” the clinic said.

To contain the incident and protect its patients and employees, the clinic has also been working with law enforcement agencies and third-party experts, hoping to identify the source and scope of the cyberattack.

“We believe we have been able to limit the impact of this criminal attack. We are currently in the process of restoring our systems safely with enhanced security features and controls,” it said.

It remains closed, and all scheduled appointments for May 4 have been canceled.

“While we have not confirmed that any specific patient, employee, or corporate data was accessed or removed from our network, patients and employees of MMC are encouraged to monitor their personal data for any misuse,” Joey Peay, CEO of MMC, said.

According to the clinic, personal data, in this case, could include: names, enrollment information such as group name, identification number, claims or treatment information such as claim numbers, dates of service, procedures, prescription information, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, driver’s license numbers, and, in some cases, social security numbers.